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Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand vs Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners

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

A factual, source-backed comparison of Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand and Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners 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 Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$41,690
$48,970
Employment · BLS OEWS
11,850
5,730
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
24th pct
29th pct

At a glance

Dimension Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners
Median pay $41,690 $48,970
Employment 11,850 5,730
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection Declining (-21.2%) Declining (-7.8%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 800 500
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 · 29th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 27th pct · 18% of tasks 22nd pct · 17% 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, Mechanical, Manual Dexterity, Quality Control Analysis, Operations Monitoring, Multilimb Coordination, English Language, Operation and Control, Equipment Maintenance, Oral Comprehension, Problem Sensitivity, Information Ordering, Selective Attention, Repairing, Oral Expression, Category Flexibility, Flexibility of Closure, Perceptual Speed, Visualization, Rate Control, Critical Thinking, Troubleshooting, Deductive Reasoning, Reaction Time, Static Strength, Auditory Attention, Mathematics, Reading Comprehension, Monitoring.

Specific to Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand

  • Speech Recognition
  • Speech Clarity
  • Trunk Strength
  • Visual Color Discrimination
  • Active Listening
  • Speaking
  • Extent Flexibility

Specific to Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners

  • Written Comprehension
  • Equipment Selection
  • Hearing Sensitivity
  • Complex Problem Solving
  • Judgment and Decision Making
  • Inductive Reasoning
  • Mathematical Reasoning

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 Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand or Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners — 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 Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners." 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-tool-grinders-filers-and-sharpeners

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand vs Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/grinding-and-polishing-workers-hand-vs-tool-grinders-filers-and-sharpeners

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-grinding-and-polishing-workers-hand-vs-tool-grinders-filers-and-sharpeners,
  title  = {Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand vs Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners},
  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-tool-grinders-filers-and-sharpeners}
}

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