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Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic vs Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing

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

A factual, source-backed comparison of Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic and Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing 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.”

Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$48,620
$40,440
Employment · BLS OEWS
18,970
63,350
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
49th pct
42nd pct

At a glance

Dimension Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing
Median pay $48,620 $40,440
Employment 18,970 63,350
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection Declining (-13.6%) Declining (-1.8%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 1,500 6,400
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 Moderate · 49th pct Moderate · 42nd pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 26th pct · 18% of tasks 38th pct · 22% 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: Production and Processing, Arm-Hand Steadiness, Control Precision, Mechanical, Operations Monitoring, Near Vision, Operation and Control, Finger Dexterity, Mathematics, Oral Comprehension, Problem Sensitivity, Visualization, Manual Dexterity, Multilimb Coordination, Rate Control, Reaction Time, Active Listening, Monitoring, Equipment Maintenance, Quality Control Analysis, Oral Expression, Deductive Reasoning, Information Ordering, Perceptual Speed, Selective Attention, Trunk Strength, Judgment and Decision Making, Category Flexibility, Static Strength, Far Vision.

Specific to Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

  • Engineering and Technology
  • Education and Training
  • Administration and Management
  • Customer and Personal Service
  • English Language
  • Reading Comprehension
  • Written Comprehension
  • Administrative

Specific to Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing

  • Auditory Attention
  • Speaking
  • Critical Thinking
  • Troubleshooting
  • Flexibility of Closure
  • Dynamic Strength
  • Extent Flexibility
  • Speech Recognition

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: Industrial control software , Object or component oriented development software , Inventory management software .

Specific to Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

    Specific to Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing

    Full profiles

    This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic or Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing — 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. "Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic vs Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing." 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/lathe-and-turning-machine-tool-setters-operators-and-tenders-metal-and-plastic-vs-woodworking-machine-setters-operators-and-tenders-except-sawing

    APA

    Singulariki. (2026). Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic vs Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/lathe-and-turning-machine-tool-setters-operators-and-tenders-metal-and-plastic-vs-woodworking-machine-setters-operators-and-tenders-except-sawing

    BibTeX 
    @misc{singulariki-lathe-and-turning-machine-tool-setters-operators-and-tenders-metal-and-plastic-vs-woodworking-machine-setters-operators-and-tenders-except-sawing,
  title  = {Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic vs Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing},
  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/lathe-and-turning-machine-tool-setters-operators-and-tenders-metal-and-plastic-vs-woodworking-machine-setters-operators-and-tenders-except-sawing}
}

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