AI Automation Index

Will AI Replace Reinforcing Iron and Rebar Workers?

Task-level automation exposure for Reinforcing Iron and Rebar Workers: 9 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.

E-E-A-T Verified

Developed & audited by Gini Loh

Automation Exposure

14% weighted task index

9 of 9 tasks scored

Median Salary

$58,970 / year

BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation

Employment Level

Low

13,800 people hold this job — size, not growth

Projected 2025–35

-5.3% employment change

1,000 openings a year · BLS line item

Pay by state

BLS OEWS publishes 35 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.

$27,120 – $121,620

Highest medians

Wisconsin $121,620

New Jersey $116,110

Washington $108,970

Illinois $105,580

Nevada $102,130

Lowest medians

Puerto Rico $27,120

Guam $36,830

Mississippi $39,860

South Carolina $41,020

Alabama $43,640

State figures come from the 47-2171 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 14%

Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.

Physical work 88%

Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.

Judgment & influence 0%

Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.

Routine administration 0%

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 21/100 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

9 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) 12%

1 tasks

Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 0%

0 tasks

Low exposure (below 35%) 88%

8 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

#13567 · Core · 4% automatable

Position and secure steel bars, rods, cables, or mesh in concrete forms, using fasteners, rod-bending machines, blowtorches, or hand tools.

physical manipulation — Positioning structural components is physical labor

Install metal structural components. Position structural components.

#13569 · Core · 70% automatable

Determine quantities, sizes, shapes, and locations of reinforcing rods from blueprints, sketches, or oral instructions.

visual inspection — Specs reading aided, human validates requirements

Review blueprints or specifications to determine work requirements.

#13568 · Core · 4% automatable

Space and fasten together rods in forms according to blueprints, using wire and pliers.

physical manipulation — Positioning structural components is physical labor

Install fencing or other barriers. Position structural components.

#24051 · Core · 9% automatable

Use forklifts or cranes to move construction material, such as rebar.

situated mobility — Driving forklifts requires real-world navigation and control

Move construction or extraction materials to locations where they are needed. Operate equipment or vehicles to clear construction sites or move materials. Operate forklifts or other loaders. Operate cranes, hoists, or other moving or lifting equipment.

#13571 · Core · 6% automatable

Cut rods to required lengths, using metal shears, hacksaws, bar cutters, or acetylene torches.

physical manipulation — Metal cutting with tools, hands-on

Cut metal components for installation.

#24052 · Core · 5% automatable

Unload rebar from trucks.

physical manipulation — Manual moving of materials and supplies

Load or unload materials used in construction or extraction. Unload materials or equipment. Move materials, equipment, or supplies.

#13570 · Core · 10% automatable

Place blocks under rebar to hold the bars off the deck when reinforcing floors.

physical manipulation — Hands-on positioning of safety equipment in field

Position safety or support equipment.

#13572 · Core · 6% automatable

Cut and fit wire mesh or fabric, using hooked rods, and position fabric or mesh in concrete to reinforce concrete.

physical manipulation — Metal cutting with tools, hands-on

Cut metal components for installation. Position structural components.

#13573 · Core · 10% automatable

Bend steel rods with hand tools or rod-bending machines and weld them with arc-welding equipment.

physical manipulation — Welding is skilled hands-on metalwork

Weld metal components.

Embed this calculator on your site ↓

Bloggers & authors: Embed this interactive calculator directly in your articles or comparison guides. It loads dynamically via a responsive iframe (auto-resizing to prevent double scrollbars) and provides a direct, high-value tool for your audience.

<div class="giniloh-calculator-embed" data-calculator="reinforcing-iron-and-rebar-workers"></div>
<script src="https://giniloh.com/embed.js" async></script>

Community Sentiment

Do you agree?

Do you agree with the AI automation risk score calculated for this occupation?

Method

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

See the full method →

Best AI Proof Jobs in a Changing Market

Worried robots are coming for your paycheck? You’re not alone—but the real story is far more hopeful. This guide cuts through the scare headlines to reveal exactly where smart, sustainable career opportunities exist right now. We’ve curated a list of true ai proof jobs—roles in healthcare, skilled trades, and cybersecurity that not only survive automation but thrive because of human judgment and empathy. You’ll get specific, money-making data on projected growth (the BLS says wind turbine technicians, for instance, will grow 44% by 2032), real salary ranges from active job listings, and a simple self-assessment quiz to identify your own most resilient path. Plus, we name companies hiring today and the niche job boards they use. Stop worrying and start planning—your secure career is closer than you think.

Read Article ->