Human edge, steady

Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

Set up, operate, or tend machines to extrude or draw thermoplastic or metal materials into tubes, rods, hoses, wire, bars, or structural shapes.

AI Resistance Index 60 of 99

More resilient than most: more resilient than 60% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is low (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it moderate), and US jobs are projected to change by +0.7% 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): $47,720
Job growth to 2035: +0.7%
Openings a year: 5,400
People doing it (2025): 60,900
Usual route in: High school diploma, then moderate on-the-job training

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Where people already use AI for this work

Select materials or equipment for operations or projects
Determine operational methods or procedures
Measure physical characteristics of materials, products, or equipment

From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).

Work AI rarely helps with

Position workpieces or materials on equipment
Inspect completed work or finished products
Operate industrial processing or production equipment

What the work looks like

Reel extruded products into rolls of specified lengths and weights.
Measure and examine extruded products to locate defects and to check for conformance to specifications, adjusting controls as necessary to alter products.
Start machines and set controls to regulate vacuum, air pressure, sizing rings, and temperature, and to synchronize speed of extrusion.
Weigh and mix pelletized, granular, or powdered thermoplastic materials and coloring pigments.
Determine setup procedures and select machine dies and parts, according to specifications.

From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.

What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects

Fewer of these jobs, as more processes can be performed by programmed machinery and improvements in software and equipment are expected to increase efficiency, allowing more output to be produced with the same amount of labor.

Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook

Adhesive bonding machine operators and tendersHuman edge, steady, Index 73, +1.3%
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tendersHuman edge, steady, Index 78, +2.5%
Furnace, kiln, oven, drier, and kettle operators and tendersHuman edge, steady, Index 73, +2.6%
Tire buildersHuman edge, steady, Index 75, +0.8%

Also known as: Extruder Operator, Extrusion Operator, Extrusion Press Operator, Machine Operator, Equipment Technician (Equipment Tech), Extrusion Line Operator, Metal Inspector, Setup Operator.

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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.