AI Automation Index

Will AI Replace Stonemasons?

Task-level automation exposure for Stonemasons: 16 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.

E-E-A-T Verified

Developed & audited by Gini Loh

Automation Exposure

5% weighted task index

16 of 16 tasks scored

Median Salary

$57,390 / year

BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation

Employment Level

Low

7,820 people hold this job — size, not growth

Projected 2025–35

-5.4% employment change

500 openings a year · BLS line item

Pay by state

BLS OEWS publishes 31 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.

$40,700 – $82,740

Highest medians

Wisconsin $82,740

Nevada $79,600

Washington $78,010

Massachusetts $69,610

New Jersey $66,210

Lowest medians

Mississippi $40,700

Oklahoma $40,930

Arizona $42,130

Alabama $42,210

Missouri $43,880

State figures come from the 47-2022 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 5%

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

Physical work 100%

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 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

16 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) 0%

0 tasks

Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 0%

0 tasks

Low exposure (below 35%) 100%

16 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

#8768 · Core · 4% automatable

Set vertical and horizontal alignment of structures, using plumb bob, gauge line, and level.

physical manipulation — Aligning masonry is skilled manual work

Align masonry materials.

#8766 · Core · 8% automatable

Lay out wall patterns or foundations, using straight edge, rule, or staked lines.

physical manipulation — Marking reference points is hands-on site work

Mark reference points on construction materials.

#8771 · Core · 4% automatable

Set stone or marble in place, according to layout or pattern.

physical manipulation — Aligning masonry is skilled manual work

Align masonry materials.

#8770 · Core · 4% automatable

Remove wedges, fill joints between stones, finish joints between stones, using a trowel, and smooth the mortar to an attractive finish, using a tuck pointer.

physical manipulation — Applying mortar is skilled manual masonry work

Apply mortar. Apply decorative masonry finishes.

#8772 · Core · 4% automatable

Clean excess mortar or grout from surface of marble, stone, or monument, using sponge, brush, water, or acid.

physical manipulation — Hands-on removal of excess construction materials

Remove excess materials from finished construction projects.

#8767 · Core · 5% automatable

Shape, trim, face and cut marble or stone preparatory to setting, using power saws, cutting equipment, and hand tools.

physical manipulation — Masonry cutting requires skilled manual work

Cut tile, stone, or other masonry materials.

#8769 · Core · 7% automatable

Mix mortar or grout and pour or spread mortar or grout on marble slabs, stone, or foundation.

physical manipulation — Physical handling of substances in workspace

Mix substances or compounds needed for work activities. Spread concrete or other aggregate mixtures. Apply mortar.

#8779 · Core · 2% automatable

Construct and install prefabricated masonry units.

physical manipulation — Masonry requires skilled manual labor

Install masonry materials.

#8775 · Core · 7% automatable

Smooth, polish, and bevel surfaces, using hand tools and power tools.

physical manipulation — Abrasive hand work on physical surfaces

Cut tile, stone, or other masonry materials. Smooth surfaces with abrasive materials or tools.

#8773 · Core · 2% automatable

Lay brick to build shells of chimneys and smokestacks or to line or reline industrial furnaces, kilns, boilers and similar installations.

physical manipulation — Masonry requires skilled manual labor

Install masonry materials.

#8774 · Core · 2% automatable

Replace broken or missing masonry units in walls or floors.

physical manipulation — Masonry requires skilled manual labor

Install masonry materials.

#8778 · Core · 10% automatable

Remove sections of monument from truck bed, and guide stone onto foundation, using skids, hoist, or truck crane.

physical manipulation — Crane/hoist operation demands real-time physical control

Operate cranes, hoists, or other moving or lifting equipment.

#8776 · Core · 12% automatable

Drill holes in marble or ornamental stone and anchor brackets in holes.

physical manipulation — Drilling construction materials is hands-on tool work

Drill holes in construction materials.

#8780 · Core · 3% automatable

Dig trench for foundation of monument, using pick and shovel.

physical manipulation — Manual digging with tools in ground

Dig holes or trenches.

#8777 · Core · 7% automatable

Repair cracked or chipped areas of stone or marble, using blowtorch and mastic, and remove rough or defective spots from concrete, using power grinder or chisel and hammer.

physical manipulation — Abrasive hand work on physical surfaces

Cut tile, stone, or other masonry materials. Smooth surfaces with abrasive materials or tools.

#8781 · Supplemental · 6% automatable

Position mold along guidelines of wall, press mold in place, and remove mold and paper from wall.

physical manipulation — Manual placement and alignment of forms on site

Position construction forms or molds. Apply decorative masonry finishes.

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Community Sentiment

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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 →

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