Career Explorer Production
Human edge, steady
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders
Set up, operate, or tend spraying or rolling machines to coat or paint any of a wide variety of products, including glassware, cloth, ceramics, metal, plastic, paper, or wood, with lacquer, silver, copper, rubber, varnish, glaze, enamel, oil, or rust-proofing materials. Includes painters of transportation vehicles such as painters in auto body repair facilities.
More resilient than most: more resilient than 78% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is very low (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it low), and US jobs are projected to change by +2.5% by 2035, slower than average. The work leans on physical dexterity.
AI struggles with much of this work. Hiring is expected to grow slower than average, or to shrink.
- Median pay (2025)
- $48,250
- Job growth to 2035
- +2.5%
- Openings a year
- 15,300
- People doing it (2025)
- 165,000
- Usual route in
- High school diploma, then moderate on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Adjust equipment to ensure adequate performance
- Measure physical characteristics of materials, products, or equipment
- Connect components or supply lines to equipment or tools
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Operate industrial processing or production equipment
- Apply protective solutions or coatings
- Clean tools, equipment, facilities, or work areas
What the work looks like
- Dispose of hazardous waste in an appropriate manner.
- Hold or position spray guns to direct spray onto articles.
- Spray prepared surfaces with specified amounts of primers and decorative or finish coatings.
- Monitor painting operations to identify flaws, such as blisters or streaks, and correct their causes.
- Disassemble, clean, and reassemble sprayers or power equipment, using solvents, wire brushes, and cloths.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Food processing workers, all otherHuman edge, growing, Index 86, +5.5%
- Production workers, all otherHuman edge, steady, Index 79, +0.8%
- PaperhangersHuman edge, growing, Index 86, +4.3%
- Fiberglass laminators and fabricatorsHuman edge, growing, Index 86, +4.6%
Also known as: Automotive Painter (Auto Painter), Coater Operator, Paint Technician (Paint Tech), Painter, Automotive Refinish Technician (Auto Refinish Tech), Hand Sprayer, Industrial Painter, Powder Coater.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.