Skip to content
Singulariki

Advanced Manufacturing

National Career Cluster · the map of work

Advanced Manufacturing is one of the 14 national career clusters — the U.S. Department of Education's map that divides the whole world of work into broad families, each crosswalked to occupations, education programs, and industries. This cluster spans 137 occupations across 5 sub-clusters, employing about 11,336,050 workers, with a median wage of $49,240.

What's in this cluster

A career cluster is a navigational grouping, not a measured score. The counts below come from the framework's official crosswalk; employment and pay are aggregated from BLS OEWS (national, cross-industry, May 2024) across the occupations in the cluster.

137 occupations
5 sub-clusters
11,336,050 workers (BLS)
$49,240 median pay
214 education programs

Across occupations with wage data, the middle range (25th–75th percentile of occupation medians) runs $42,750 – $68,510. This describes the cluster, not any one job or person.

Sub-clusters

The framework splits each cluster into sub-clusters — tighter families of related work. The count is the number of occupations the crosswalk places in each.

Sub-cluster Occupations
Production & Automation 88
Engineering 33
Industrial Machinery 28
Safety & Quality Assurance 10
Robotics 5

Largest occupations in this cluster

Exposure quadrant: AI task-overlap percentile vs Median pay AI task-overlap (horizontal) versus median pay (vertical), each as a percentile across all scored occupations, for 39 occupations in Advanced Manufacturing. Overlap measures shared tasks with AI, not automation. Lower overlap · higher pay Higher overlap · higher pay Higher overlap · lower pay Lower overlap · lower pay Production Workers, All Other Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Workers, All Other Computer Numerically Controlled Tool Operators Occupational Health and Safety Specialists First-Line Supervisors of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers Industrial Production Managers First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers Electrical Engineers Industrial Engineering Technologists and Technicians Architectural and Engineering Managers Mechanical Engineers AI task-overlap percentile → ↑ Median pay
The largest occupations in this cluster with both an AI task-overlap score and a wage, plotted by task-overlap percentile (horizontal) and median-pay percentile (vertical). Overlap measures shared tasks with AI, not automation.

Occupations in this cluster with the most workers nationally (BLS OEWS, May 2024), each linked to its full profile. Employment and pay describe the occupation, not an individual.

Occupation Workers Median pay
Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators 1,457,800 $42,210
First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers 685,140 $71,190
First-Line Supervisors of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers 600,680 $78,300
Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers 591,180 $47,460
Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers 424,040 $51,000
Industrial Machinery Mechanics 421,940 $63,760
Industrial Engineers 350,230 $101,140
Machinists 298,790 $56,150
Mechanical Engineers 286,760 $102,320
Production Workers, All Other 277,060 $38,820
Industrial Production Managers 234,380 $121,440
Architectural and Engineering Managers 210,340 $167,740
Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers 195,360 $33,800
Electrical Engineers 188,790 $111,910
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Workers, All Other 183,690 $48,640
Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines 180,270 $63,980
Computer Numerically Controlled Tool Operators 176,950 $49,970
Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 174,430 $45,590
Food Batchmakers 171,660 $40,790
Helpers--Production Workers 167,490 $38,220
Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 154,820 $41,230
Engineers, All Other 150,750 $117,750
Printing Press Operators 145,110 $45,160
Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 129,850 $46,060
Occupational Health and Safety Specialists 128,430 $83,910
Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders 127,410 $57,090
Sewing Machine Operators 109,590 $36,000
Natural Sciences Managers 100,870 $161,180
Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders 100,840 $47,680
Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders 96,950 $49,390
Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technologists and Technicians 92,710 $77,180
Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health 84,930 $80,060
Chemists 83,250 $84,150
Cabinetmakers and Bench Carpenters 79,540 $46,020
Industrial Engineering Technologists and Technicians 73,410 $64,790
Computer, Automated Teller, and Office Machine Repairers 73,010 $46,860
Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 70,110 $45,190
Aerospace Engineers 68,440 $134,830
Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 65,700 $46,980
Engineering Technologists and Technicians, Except Drafters, All Other 64,410 $77,390

AI exposure across this cluster

Two published studies estimate how exposed each occupation is to today's AI. The OpenAI "GPTs are GPTs" study rates the share of an occupation's tasks a large language model (with tools) could speed up by half or more; averaged across this cluster it is 18% — 18th percentile of the 14 clusters. The independent Felten/Raj/Seamans AI Occupational Exposure index averages -0.46 here.

Computed across the 128 of 137 occupations in this cluster that carry a published exposure score.

Exposure measures where AI could assist tasks — it is not a prediction that these jobs will be automated. High exposure most often means augmentation (faster work), and many high-exposure occupations are also projected to grow.

Where the work sits

The framework anchors each cluster to one or more NAICS industry sectors — the parts of the economy where this work concentrates.

Education programs that lead here

A sample of the 214 CIP 2020 instructional programs the framework crosswalks to this cluster — the fields of study that prepare people for this work.

  • 3-D Modeling and Design Technology/Technician
  • Acoustics
  • Aeronautical/Aerospace Engineering Technology/Technician
  • Aerospace Ground Equipment Technology
  • Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical/Space Engineering, General
  • Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical/Space Engineering, Other
  • Agricultural Engineering
  • Agricultural Mechanics and Equipment/Machine Technology/Technician
  • Algebra and Number Theory
  • Analysis and Functional Analysis
  • Analytical Chemistry
  • Apparel and Textile Manufacture
  • Applied Engineering
  • Applied Engineering Technologies/Technicians
  • Applied Mathematics, General
  • Architectural Engineering
  • Architectural Engineering Technologies/Technicians
  • Assistive/Augmentative Technology and Rehabilitation Engineering
  • Astronautical Engineering
  • Atomic/Molecular Physics
  • Audio Engineering Technology/Technician
  • Automation Engineer Technology/Technician
  • Automotive Engineering Technology/Technician
  • Avionics Maintenance Technology/Technician

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 3, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Advanced Manufacturing." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; Census NAICS 2022; CIP-2020 2020; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/clusters/advanced-manufacturing

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Advanced Manufacturing. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/clusters/advanced-manufacturing

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-advanced-manufacturing,
  title  = {Advanced Manufacturing},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; Census NAICS 2022; CIP-2020 2020; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/clusters/advanced-manufacturing}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.