Community Sentiment
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Do you agree with the AI automation risk score calculated for this occupation?
AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Printing Press Operators?
Task-level automation exposure for Printing Press Operators: 23 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
34%
weighted task index
23 of 23 tasks scored
Median Salary
$45,780 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
High
144,260 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
-8.7%
employment change
12,100 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 53 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$26,100 – $116,630
Highest medians
District of Columbia $116,630
Massachusetts $53,050
New Jersey $50,430
Washington $49,800
Oregon $48,760
Lowest medians
Puerto Rico $26,100
Guam $32,240
Alabama $36,670
Oklahoma $36,760
New Mexico $37,110
State figures come from the 51-5112 row in the May 2025 state panel. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.
What the score is made of
Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.
Automation potential 34%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 56%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 11%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 5%
Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.
Rewritten by O*NET 0%
Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.
Consequence of error 23/100
Low
O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.
Constituent Task Mix
23 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.
High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 20%
5 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 23%
5 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 57%
13 tasks
How would you survive?
Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.
Simulate Upskilling →Constituent Tasks
#19430 · Core · 35% automatable
Start presses and pull proofs to check for ink coverage and density, alignment, and registration.
visual inspection — AI vision can flag print defects; human verifies
Inspected printed materials or other images to verify quality. Operate photographic developing or print production equipment.
#19423 · Core · 73% automatable
Examine job orders to determine quantities to be printed, stock specifications, colors, or special printing instructions.
information retrieval — Parse specs and materials from orders
Read work orders or other instructions to determine product specifications or materials requirements. Review blueprints or other instructions to determine operational methods or sequences.
#19417 · Core · 15% automatable
Adjust ink fountain flow rates.
physical manipulation — Hands-on production flow control
Adjust equipment controls to regulate flow of production materials or products.
#19431 · Core · 45% automatable
Verify that paper and ink meet the specifications for a given job.
visual inspection — Material quality often needs hands-on or visual inspection
Evaluate quality of materials or products.
#19421 · Core · 32% automatable
Collect and inspect random samples during print runs to identify any necessary adjustments.
visual inspection — AI vision can flag print defects; human verifies
Inspected printed materials or other images to verify quality. Collect samples of materials or products for testing.
#19424 · Core · 5% automatable
Feed paper through press cylinders and adjust feed and tension controls.
physical manipulation — Feeding materials into equipment is physical
Feed materials or products into or through equipment.
#19427 · Core · 42% automatable
Monitor automated press operation systems and respond to fault, error, or alert messages.
visual inspection — Sensor/vision monitoring possible, but physical verification and accountability remain human
Monitor equipment operation to ensure proper functioning.
#19426 · Core · 4% automatable
Load presses with paper and make necessary adjustments, according to paper size.
physical manipulation — Hands-on loading of materials into equipment
Load materials into production equipment.
#19429 · Core · 5% automatable
Secure printing plates to printing units and adjust tolerances.
physical manipulation — Mounting workpieces is physical loading
Mount materials or workpieces onto production equipment.
#19419 · Core · 5% automatable
Clean ink fountains, plates, or printing unit cylinders when press runs are completed.
physical manipulation — Hands-on cleaning of equipment in unstructured settings
Clean production equipment.
#19418 · Core · 5% automatable
Change press plates, blankets, or cylinders, as required.
physical manipulation — Physical component installation
Install mechanical components in production equipment.
#19428 · Core · 8% automatable
Obtain or mix inks and fill ink fountains.
physical manipulation — Mixing finishes requires hands-on craft judgment
Mix ingredients to create specific finishes. Load materials into production equipment.
#19425 · Core · 55% automatable
Input production job settings into workstation terminals that control automated printing systems.
physical manipulation — Command entry often needs physical equipment interface
Enter commands, instructions, or specifications into equipment.
#19420 · Core · 8% automatable
Clean or oil presses or make minor repairs, using hand tools.
physical manipulation — Manual lubrication of production equipment
Clean production equipment. Lubricate production equipment.
#19435 · Core · 82% automatable
Maintain time or production records.
data analysis — Record production data into structured logs
Record operational or production data.
#19437 · Core · 73% automatable
Monitor inventory levels on a regular basis, ordering or requesting additional supplies, as necessary.
decision support — Ordering via systems automatable; human approves spend
Maintain inventories of materials, equipment, or products. Order materials, supplies, or equipment.
#19436 · Core · 25% automatable
Monitor environmental factors, such as humidity and temperature, that may impact equipment performance and make necessary adjustments.
physical manipulation — Monitoring requires sensors, sampling, field presence
Monitor environmental impacts of production or development activities. Adjust equipment controls to regulate flow of production materials or products.
#19422 · Supplemental · 90% automatable
Download or scan files to be printed, using printing production software.
data analysis — Downloading data fully automatable
Download data.
#19416 · Supplemental · 55% automatable
Adjust digital files to alter print elements, such as fonts, graphics, or color separations.
decision support — Programming production equipment needs physical setup and verification
Program equipment to perform production tasks.
#19433 · Supplemental · 30% automatable
Direct or monitor work of press crews.
interpersonal — Directing production operations is human supervisory authority
Direct operational or production activities.
#19434 · Supplemental · 90% automatable
Download completed jobs to archive media so that questions can be answered or jobs replicated.
data analysis — Downloading data fully automatable
Download data.
#19432 · Supplemental · 30% automatable
Control workflow scheduling or job tracking, using computer database software.
interpersonal — Directing production operations is human supervisory authority
Direct operational or production activities.
#19438 · Supplemental · 12% automatable
Set up or operate auxiliary equipment, such as cutting, folding, plate-making, drilling, or laminating machines.
physical manipulation — Cutting equipment operation is manual and judgment-based
Operate cutting equipment.
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How this was scored
- 1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
- 2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
- 3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
- 4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.
Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.
Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast
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