Career Explorer Production
Human edge, steady
Foundry mold and coremakers
Make or form wax or sand cores or molds used in the production of metal castings in foundries.
In the middle of the pack: more resilient than 43% 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 -23.0% by 2035, expected to shrink. 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)
- $48,110
- Job growth to 2035
- -23.0%
- Openings a year
- 800
- People doing it (2025)
- 12,700
- Usual route in
- High school diploma, then moderate on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Assemble products or work aids
- Load products, materials, or equipment for transportation or further processing
- Remove workpieces from production equipment
What the work looks like
- Clean and smooth molds, cores, and core boxes, and repair surface imperfections.
- Sift and pack sand into mold sections, core boxes, and pattern contours, using hand or pneumatic ramming tools.
- Position patterns inside mold sections, and clamp sections together.
- Position cores into lower sections of molds, and reassemble molds for pouring.
- Tend machines that bond cope and drag together to form completed shell molds.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- Fewer of these jobs, as molds made with 3D printers replace traditionally crafted molds.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Slaughterers and meat packersHuman edge, steady, Index 71, +2.0%
- Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, woodHuman edge, steady, Index 57, -1.0%
- Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawingHuman edge, steady, Index 44, -2.5%
- Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plasticHuman edge, steady, Index 60, +0.7%
Also known as: Core Machine Operator, Core Maker, Coremaker, Molder, Core Stripper, Green Sand Molder, Mold Maker, Mold 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.