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Pace Determined by Speed of Equipment

Work context · O*NET

Pace Determined by Speed of Equipment is a work-context dimension in the O*NET database — one of the standardized conditions O*NET uses to describe the environment a job is done in , grouped under Structural Job Characteristics. O*NET defines it by asking workers: "How important is it to this job that the pace is determined by the speed of equipment or machinery? (This does not refer to keeping busy at all times on this job.)." It is rated for 894 occupations, which average 1.95 out of 5 (low relative to other context dimensions).

How it's measured

O*NET rates each occupation on this dimension on a 1–5 context-importance scale (the CX scale), where higher means the condition is a more frequent or more central part of the work. The figures on this page are those occupation-level ratings — a description of working conditions as workers report them, not a judgment about pay, difficulty, or whether a job is "good."

Economy-wide average 1.95 / 5 Mean across all 894 rated occupations
Range across occupations 1.00–4.76 Lowest to highest occupation rating (spread 3.76)
Intensity vs. other dimensions 21st pct Where this dimension's average ranks among all O*NET work-context dimensions

Occupations where it's highest

The occupations that rate this condition strongest on the 1–5 scale.

Occupation Rating Score
Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 4.76
Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 4.71
Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders 4.60
Roof Bolters, Mining 4.60
Conveyor Operators and Tenders 4.58
Logging Equipment Operators 4.45
Chemical Plant and System Operators 4.41
Metal-Refining Furnace Operators and Tenders 4.41
Cement Masons and Concrete Finishers 4.39
Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders 4.34
Machinists 4.33
Hoist and Winch Operators 4.32
Biofuels Processing Technicians 4.30
Food Batchmakers 4.29
Textile Bleaching and Dyeing Machine Operators and Tenders 4.29
Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers 4.22
Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood 4.21
Slaughterers and Meat Packers 4.20
Textile Knitting and Weaving Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders 4.20
Pressers, Textile, Garment, and Related Materials 4.19
Textile Winding, Twisting, and Drawing Out Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders 4.17
Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders 4.15
Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers 4.12
Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 4.12
Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners 4.12

Occupations where it's lowest

The occupations that rate this condition weakest — where it is rarely part of the work.

Occupation Rating Score
Human Resources Specialists 1.00
Instructional Coordinators 1.00
Insurance Sales Agents 1.00
Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates 1.00
Judicial Law Clerks 1.00
Lawyers 1.00
Low Vision Therapists, Orientation and Mobility Specialists, and Vision Rehabilitation Therapists 1.00
Marriage and Family Therapists 1.00
Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers 1.00
Occupational Therapists 1.00
Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric 1.00
Philosophy and Religion Teachers, Postsecondary 1.00
Physicists 1.00
Political Science Teachers, Postsecondary 1.00
Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education 1.00
Psychology Teachers, Postsecondary 1.00
Regulatory Affairs Managers 1.00
Sociologists 1.00
Special Education Teachers, Middle School 1.00
Speech-Language Pathology Assistants 1.00
Statisticians 1.00
Tax Preparers 1.00
Teaching Assistants, Special Education 1.00
Transportation Planners 1.00
Urban and Regional Planners 1.00

How AI is used by roles where pace determined by speed of equipment is central

A working condition is not itself "being automated" — but we can look at the occupations where it is most central and ask how those people actually use AI. This rolls the Anthropic Economic Index per-role signal up across the roles that rate this condition 3 or higher (CX-rating-weighted). 28.6% of the 140 occupations where this condition is present carry observed AI-usage data (40 roles).

Across those roles, 28.9% of AI conversations are people working with AI and 41.2% hand a task to AI , with an average autonomy of 3.30 / 5.

Collaboration pattern Share What it means
directive 35.6% AI does it; you give the instruction
learning 17.6% you ask AI to explain or teach
task iteration 10.8% you and AI go back and forth
feedback loop 5.6% AI does it, then adjusts from your feedback
validation 0.5% you do it; AI checks your work

Roles behind this signal

The occupations where this condition is most central and that also have the most AEI data. "Works with AI" is the role's share of conversations that augment rather than automate.

Occupation Condition (1–5) Works with AI Autonomy
Tailors, Dressmakers, and Custom Sewers 3.7 58.0% 4.0/5
Textile Knitting and Weaving Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders 4.2 27.2% 4.0/5
Textile Cutting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders 4.1 27.2% 4.0/5
Patternmakers, Wood 3.1 30.1% 2.5/5
Industrial Machinery Mechanics 3.3 22.8% 4.0/5
Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers 3.1 33.3% 3.0/5
Bakers 3.3 45.4% 4.0/5
Textile Bleaching and Dyeing Machine Operators and Tenders 4.3 23.7% 3.0/5
Weighers, Measurers, Checkers, and Samplers, Recordkeeping 3.8 18.8% 2.0/5
Subway and Streetcar Operators 3.7 51.9% 3.0/5
Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 4.0 18.6% 3.0/5
Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers 3.9 54.7% 3.0/5

Source: Anthropic Economic Index (2026-01-15-v4-plus-2025-03-27-v2) over a sample of Claude.ai Free and Pro conversations — not all AI tools and not the whole workforce. This is a role-weighted projection from AEI-linked occupations where this condition is central, not a direct measurement of AI use for the condition itself. Shares are weighted by how central the condition is to each role; some conversations are left unclassified by Anthropic's taxonomy, so shares need not sum to 100.

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. "Pace Determined by Speed of Equipment." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27). Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/work-context/pace-determined-by-speed-of-equipment

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Pace Determined by Speed of Equipment. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/work-context/pace-determined-by-speed-of-equipment

BibTeX
@misc{singulariki-pace-determined-by-speed-of-equipment,
  title  = {Pace Determined by Speed of Equipment},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27). Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/work-context/pace-determined-by-speed-of-equipment}
}

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