Packers and Packagers, Hand

AI & job outlook

What today's research says about this occupation's exposure to AI, how AI is actually being used in it, and where employment is headed. These are positions within published studies — measures of exposure and usage, not predictions that this job will disappear.

Exposure to current AI

Each study uses its own scale, so the raw scores are not comparable across rows — the percentile (this job's rank among all U.S. occupations with data) is the comparable figure, and sizes the bars.

OpenAI's exposure study scores tasks three ways: with a language model alone (α 0.1), with simple added tooling (β 0.1), and including AI-powered software (γ 0.1). Higher means more of the job's tasks could be done at least twice as fast — not that they will be automated away.

This job mostly cannot be done remotely (Dingel–Neiman) — its hands-on tasks sit outside what software-based AI reaches.

Job outlook

Independent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics employment projection for 2024–2034 — a labor-market forecast, not an AI-impact forecast.

“Annual openings” counts new jobs plus replacements for workers who leave the occupation, so it can be large even when growth is modest.

Where this work sits on the global GenAI gradient

The ILO's 2025 global study scores generative-AI exposure on the international ISCO-08 occupation system, not US SOC. Bridged through the published (and approximate, many-to-many) IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 crosswalk, this US occupation corresponds to the international occupation below. Exposure here means how much of the work's tasks today's AI can attempt — task overlap, not automation, adoption, or jobs lost.

Read the whole six-band gradient on the GenAI exposure gradient page. The crosswalk is approximate: a US occupation can map to several international ones, and the ILO scores describe the international occupation, not this exact US role.

Tasks

All 12 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, ordered by importance. Each links to its own page with AI-exposure and observed-use detail.

• Examine and inspect containers, materials, or products to ensure that product quality and packing specifications are met. Core · importance 4.5
• Measure, weigh, and count products and materials. Core · importance 4.4
• Remove completed or defective products or materials, placing them on moving equipment, such as conveyors, or in specified areas, such as loading docks. Supplemental · importance 4.3
• Record product, packaging, and order information on specified forms and records. Core · importance 4.2
• Seal containers or materials, using glues, fasteners, nails, and hand tools. Core · importance 4.2
• Assemble, line, and pad cartons, crates, and containers, using hand tools. Core · importance 4.1
• Obtain, move, and sort products, materials, containers, and orders, using hand tools. Core · importance 4.1
• Place or pour products or materials into containers, using hand tools and equipment, or fill containers from spouts or chutes. Supplemental · importance 4.0
• Mark and label containers, container tags, or products, using marking tools. Core · importance 4.0
• Load materials and products into package processing equipment. Supplemental · importance 4.0
• Transport packages to customers' vehicles. Supplemental · importance 3.9
• Clean containers, materials, supplies, or work areas, using cleaning solutions and hand tools. Core · importance 3.9

Work activities

• Inspect cargo to ensure it is properly loaded or secured.
• Inspect work to ensure standards are met.
• Mark materials or objects for identification.
• Measure product or material dimensions.
• Weigh materials to ensure compliance with specifications.
• Record details of deliveries or shipments.
• Remove debris or damaged materials.
• Move materials, equipment, or supplies.
• Set up material handling gear or equipment, such as rigging, packaging, or temporary structures.
• Load materials into equipment for processing.
• Clean facilities or work areas.
• Sort materials or objects for processing or transport.

Knowledge, skills & abilities

O*NET importance rating, from 1 (not important) to 5 (extremely important).

Knowledge

Abilities

Essential skills

Transferable skills

Skills in demand

Skills employers ask for in job postings for this occupation (Lightcast), with whether each is a common or specialized skill.

• Speech Recognition Specialized Skill
• Microsoft Word Common Skill
• Microsoft Excel Common Skill
• English Language Common Skill
• Information Ordering Specialized Skill
• Finger Dexterity Common Skill
• Critical Thinking Common Skill
• Active Listening Common Skill
• Mathematics Common Skill
• Reading Comprehension Common Skill
• Deductive Reasoning Common Skill
• Inductive Reasoning Common Skill
• Depth Perception Common Skill
• Chemistry Specialized Skill
• Visualization Specialized Skill
• Time Management Common Skill
• Social Perceptiveness Common Skill
• Active Learning Common Skill
• Writing Common Skill
• Learning Strategies Specialized Skill
• Complex Problem Solving Common Skill
• Psychology Specialized Skill
• Systems Analysis Specialized Skill
• Instructing Specialized Skill
• Telecommunications Specialized Skill
• Foreign Language Common Skill
• Physics Specialized Skill
• Negotiation Common Skill
• Equipment Selection Specialized Skill
• Geography Specialized Skill
• Biology Specialized Skill
• Equipment Maintenance Specialized Skill
• Installation Specialized Skill

Tools & technology

Work context

How characteristic each condition is of the job, on O*NET's 1–5 context scale (higher = more present in day-to-day work). Each condition links to how it varies across all occupations.

How to get in

Job zone

Zone 2 — Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed

Education

Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.

Typical entry-level education

No formal educational credential · BLS, the typical path — not a requirement

Related experience

Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.

Preparation level

SVP (Below 6.0) — total schooling plus on-the-job experience.

Education of current workers

Share of people in this occupation at each level of education.

Interests & work styles

The interests and personal qualities O*NET associates with people who do this work.

Career interests (Holland / RIASEC)

Interest areas

Work styles

Wages & employment

U.S. · annual wages (BLS OEWS)

Industries that employ this occupation

Where these workers are employed, by number of jobs (national, BLS OEWS). Pay shown is the occupation's national median, not industry-specific.

Where this work is most concentrated

Industries where this occupation is far more common than in the economy as a whole. The location quotient is how many times more concentrated it is here (a value of 5 means five times its economy-wide share).

Related occupations

Part of the Supply Chain & Transportation career cluster.

• Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders · 51-9111.00 Compare →
• Machine Feeders and Offbearers · 53-7063.00 Compare →
• Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products · 45-2041.00 Compare →
• Adhesive Bonding Machine Operators and Tenders · 51-9191.00 Compare →
• Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders · 51-9032.00 Compare →
• Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand · 53-7062.00 Compare →
• Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders · 51-9196.00 Compare →
• Cutters and Trimmers, Hand · 51-9031.00 Compare →
• Weighers, Measurers, Checkers, and Samplers, Recordkeeping · 43-5111.00 Compare →
• Helpers--Production Workers · 51-9198.00 Compare →
• Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders · 51-9041.00 Compare →
• Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic · 51-9195.00 Compare →

Side-by-side comparisons place two occupations’ pay, preparation, skills, and AI exposure on the same page — same data, same scale, no forecast.

What you can do with this

Options the data surfaces for Packers and Packagers, Hand — not advice or a forecast. Each is a real cross-link you can follow into the evidence.

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.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai Microsoft Research
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic
• AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans academic
• ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025 International Labour Organization
• IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022 Institute for Structural Research (IBS)
• Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation academic
• Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome academic

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

@misc{singulariki-role-53-7064-00,
  title  = {Packers and Packagers, Hand},
  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/roles/role-53-7064-00}
}