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Other Production Occupations

Occupation group · SOC minor group

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Other Production Occupations is one of the 98 SOC minor groups — the middle tier of the U.S. Standard Occupational Classification, sitting between the broad job families and individual occupations. It belongs to the Production Occupations family and contains 34 detailed occupations employing about 2,690,320 people, with a median wage of $45,695 across them. BLS projects employment in this group to change -0.6% between 2024 and 2034 , with roughly 307,100 openings a year.

Occupations in this group

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 34 occupations in Other Production Occupations. Overlap measures shared tasks with AI, not automation. Lower overlap · higher pay Higher overlap · higher pay Higher overlap · lower pay Lower overlap · lower pay Tire Builders Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders Production Workers, All Other Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders Semiconductor Processing Technicians Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers Photographic Process Workers and Processing Machine Operators Computer Numerically Controlled Tool Programmers AI task-overlap percentile → ↑ Median pay
Each occupation in this group 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.

Ranked by U.S. employment (BLS OEWS May 2024). Projected change is BLS 2024–34; AI exposure is the OpenAI "GPTs are GPTs" human beta rating (share of an occupation's tasks where an LLM with tools could cut the time to do them by at least half).

Occupation Median pay Employment 2024–34 AI exposure
Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers $47,460 591,180 +0.0% 18%
Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders $40,900 383,860 +4.5% 8%
Production Workers, All Other $38,820 277,060 +0.5% —
Computer Numerically Controlled Tool Operators $49,970 176,950 -10.7% 18%
Helpers--Production Workers $38,220 167,490 -8.9% 6%
Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders $47,590 159,500 +0.7% 1%
Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders $57,090 127,410 +3.3% 7%
Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders $47,680 100,840 -6.8% 8%
Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders $49,390 96,950 -6.3% 3%
Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders $45,130 57,310 +2.0% 8%
Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders $49,500 54,200 -4.3% 9%
Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders $45,700 47,540 -2.3% 6%
Glass Blowers, Molders, Benders, and Finishers $45,690 34,750 +6.2% 1%
Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic $45,690 34,750 +6.2% 1%
Potters, Manufacturing $45,690 34,750 +6.2% 1%
Stone Cutters and Carvers, Manufacturing $45,690 34,750 +6.2% 1%
Dental Laboratory Technicians $48,310 33,920 -4.7% 4%
Semiconductor Processing Technicians $51,180 32,150 +10.9% 6%
Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders $46,890 28,550 -2.5% 8%
Computer Numerically Controlled Tool Programmers $65,670 28,230 +12.8% 36%
Gem and Diamond Workers $49,140 23,420 -5.5% 14%
Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers $49,140 23,420 -5.5% 14%
Tire Builders $55,580 20,970 +2.3% 0%
Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians $38,420 18,740 +2.3% 6%
Furnace, Kiln, Oven, Drier, and Kettle Operators and Tenders $47,010 16,160 +3.0% 4%
Cleaning, Washing, and Metal Pickling Equipment Operators and Tenders $41,460 13,890 +3.6% 5%
Adhesive Bonding Machine Operators and Tenders $45,210 12,170 +1.0% 0%
Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand $41,690 11,850 -21.2% 4%
Medical Appliance Technicians $47,060 11,490 +3.7% 10%
Painting, Coating, and Decorating Workers $40,860 8,470 +1.4% 3%
Etchers and Engravers $40,450 8,390 -0.7% 3%
Cutters and Trimmers, Hand $38,800 7,070 -18.1% 0%
Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders $40,160 6,590 +7.2% 4%
Photographic Process Workers and Processing Machine Operators $40,100 5,550 -2.6% 17%

AI exposure across this group

Two published studies estimate how exposed each occupation is to AI. The OpenAI "GPTs are GPTs" study rates the share of an occupation's tasks an LLM (with tools) could speed up by half or more; averaged across this group it is 7% — 10th percentile of the 98 groups. The independent Felten/Raj/Seamans AI Occupational Exposure index averages -0.87 here.

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

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. "Other Production Occupations." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/occupation-groups/other-production-occupations

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Other Production Occupations. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/occupation-groups/other-production-occupations

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-other-production-occupations,
  title  = {Other Production Occupations},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/occupation-groups/other-production-occupations}
}

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