# Paperhangers

> Cover interior walls or ceilings of rooms with decorative wallpaper or fabric, or attach advertising posters on surfaces such as walls and billboards. May remove old materials or prepare surfaces to be papered.

- **SOC code:** 47-2142.00
- **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/roles/role-47-2142-00
- **Also known as:** Bill Poster, Paper Hanger, Paperhanger, Wallpaper Hanger, Bill Board Poster, Hanger, Vinyl Hanger, Wall Covering Contractor
- **Frame:** "AI exposure" means task overlap (how codifiable the work is), not jobs lost or a forecast. Every figure below is traced to a named public dataset.

## What this work is

**Core tasks** (O*NET):
- Smooth strips or sections of paper with brushes or rollers to remove wrinkles and bubbles and to smooth joints.
- Trim rough edges from strips, using straightedges and trimming knives.
- Trim excess material at ceilings or baseboards, using knives.
- Check finished wallcoverings for proper alignment, pattern matching, and neatness of seams.
- Mark vertical guidelines on walls to align strips, using plumb bobs and chalk lines.
- Cover interior walls and ceilings of rooms with decorative wallpaper or fabric, using hand tools.
- Apply adhesives to the backs of paper strips, using brushes, or dunk strips of prepasted wallcovering in water, wiping off any excess adhesive.
- Measure and cut strips from rolls of wallpaper or fabric, using shears or razors.
- Place strips or sections of paper on surfaces, aligning section edges and patterns.
- Fill holes, cracks, and other surface imperfections preparatory to covering surfaces.
- Measure surfaces or review work orders to estimate the quantities of materials needed.
- Apply sizing to seal surfaces and maximize adhesion of coverings to surfaces.

## Skills, tools, capabilities

**Knowledge, skills & abilities** (O*NET, highest importance first):
- Customer and Personal Service _(knowledge)_
- Manual Dexterity _(ability)_
- Near Vision _(ability)_
- Building and Construction _(knowledge)_
- Arm-Hand Steadiness _(ability)_
- Multilimb Coordination _(ability)_
- Extent Flexibility _(ability)_
- Mathematics _(knowledge)_
- Finger Dexterity _(ability)_
- Trunk Strength _(ability)_
- Gross Body Equilibrium _(ability)_
- Information Ordering _(ability)_

**Skills in demand:**
- Mathematics _(Common Skill)_
- Finger Dexterity _(Common Skill)_
- Information Ordering _(Specialized Skill)_
- Microsoft Word _(Common Skill)_
- Microsoft Excel _(Common Skill)_
- Google Docs _(Specialized Skill)_
- Active Listening _(Common Skill)_
- English Language _(Common Skill)_
- Visualization _(Specialized Skill)_
- Time Management _(Common Skill)_
- Inductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Deductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_

**Tools & technology:**
- Google Docs _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Excel _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Word _(hot technology)_
- A-Systems JobView
- Construction Software Center EasyEst
- Corel Painter
- Electronic data interchange EDI software
- On Center Quick Bid
- PlanSwift
- Turtle Creek Software Goldenseal

## AI exposure & outlook

- **AI task-overlap index:** 6th percentile (Low) across all occupations — composite of current-era exposure studies (ai-exposure-index-v1).
- **Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.):** 3rd percentile (Low) — source: felten_aioe.
- **LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou):** 8th percentile (Low) — source: eloundou_gamma.
- **AI assistant applicability (Microsoft):** 19th percentile (Low) — source: microsoft_applicability.
- **Frey–Osborne (2013, historical computerization estimate):** 74th percentile — kept separate from current-era studies.
- **Remote-capable (Dingel–Neiman):** no — task structure, not who actually works remote.
- **Projected employment (BLS 2024–34):** 5.3% growth (About average); 0.2k annual openings; 2.3k → 2.5k jobs.
- **Pay & employment (BLS OEWS, May 2024):** median $48,260; 1,520 employed.

## Sources

- **O*NET** (30.3) — U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)** (May 2024) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS Employment Projections** (2024–2034) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **Microsoft “Working with AI”** (working-with-ai) — Microsoft Research. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/
- **“GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.)** (arXiv 2303.10130) — OpenAI / academic. https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130
- **AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE)** (Felten, Raj & Seamans) — academic. https://github.com/AIOE-Data/AIOE
- **Frey & Osborne (2013)** (frey-osborne-automation) — academic. https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/publications/the-future-of-employment/
- **Dingel & Neiman (2020)** (dingel-neiman-workathome) — academic. https://github.com/jdingel/DingelNeiman-workathome

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_Generated from Singulariki's joined dataset; data snapshot 2026-06-02T21:00:32.945303+00:00. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-47-2142-00_