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Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand vs Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

Side-by-side · O*NET · BLS · AI-exposure research · Anthropic Economic Index

A factual, source-backed comparison of Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand and Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic on the dimensions both occupations carry. Every figure is a position within an independent published dataset — not a verdict on which job is better, safer, or more “future-proof.”

Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$41,690
$45,190
Employment · BLS OEWS
11,850
70,110
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
24th pct
32nd pct

At a glance

Dimension Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
Median pay $41,690 $45,190
Employment 11,850 70,110
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection Declining (-21.2%) Declining (-12.0%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 800 5,500
Typical education · O*NET Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not. Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Low · 24th pct Low · 32nd pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 27th pct · 18% of tasks 26th pct · 18% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — —
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman No No

Pay and employment are BLS OEWS estimates; outlook and openings are BLS 2024–2034 projections; AI exposure and observed-use figures come from separate research and reflect exposure and usage, not predictions that either job will disappear. Compare like with like.

Skills

Shared: Arm-Hand Steadiness, Finger Dexterity, Control Precision, Near Vision, Production and Processing, Manual Dexterity, Quality Control Analysis, Operations Monitoring, Multilimb Coordination, Operation and Control, Oral Comprehension, Problem Sensitivity, Information Ordering, Selective Attention, Oral Expression, Category Flexibility, Flexibility of Closure, Perceptual Speed, Visualization, Rate Control, Trunk Strength, Active Listening, Speaking, Critical Thinking, Troubleshooting, Deductive Reasoning, Reaction Time, Static Strength, Auditory Attention, Mathematics, Reading Comprehension, Monitoring.

Specific to Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand

  • Mechanical
  • English Language
  • Equipment Maintenance
  • Speech Recognition
  • Speech Clarity
  • Repairing
  • Visual Color Discrimination
  • Extent Flexibility

Specific to Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

  • Written Comprehension
  • Far Vision
  • Depth Perception
  • Judgment and Decision Making
  • Inductive Reasoning
  • Wrist-Finger Speed
  • Coordination
  • Complex Problem Solving

Knowledge, skills & abilities O*NET rates as important for each occupation. “Shared” are common to both; the columns list what is distinctive to each (top by the order O*NET surfaces).

Tools & technology

Shared: Spreadsheet software .

Specific to Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand

Specific to Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand or Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic — tasks, the full skill graph, tools, work context, preparation, wages by percentile, industries, AI exposure and the AI work map.

More comparisons

Related occupations you can place side by side on the same sourced scale.

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 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand vs Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/compare/grinding-and-polishing-workers-hand-vs-grinding-lapping-polishing-and-buffing-machine-tool-setters-operators-and-tenders-metal-and-plastic

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand vs Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/grinding-and-polishing-workers-hand-vs-grinding-lapping-polishing-and-buffing-machine-tool-setters-operators-and-tenders-metal-and-plastic

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-grinding-and-polishing-workers-hand-vs-grinding-lapping-polishing-and-buffing-machine-tool-setters-operators-and-tenders-metal-and-plastic,
  title  = {Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand vs Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/compare/grinding-and-polishing-workers-hand-vs-grinding-lapping-polishing-and-buffing-machine-tool-setters-operators-and-tenders-metal-and-plastic}
}

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