Career Explorer Production
Human edge, steady
Jewelers and precious stone and metal workers
Design, fabricate, adjust, repair, or appraise jewelry, gold, silver, other precious metals, or gems.
In the middle of the pack: more resilient than 51% 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 -3.2% by 2035, expected to shrink. The work leans on creative vision and physical dexterity.
AI struggles with much of this work. Hiring is expected to grow slower than average, or to shrink.
- Median pay (2025)
- $52,540
- Job growth to 2035
- -3.2%
- Openings a year
- 3,700
- People doing it (2025)
- 32,800
- Usual route in
- High school diploma, then long on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Inspect characteristics or conditions of materials or products
- Determine values or prices of goods or services
- Purchase goods or services
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Smooth surfaces of objects or equipment
- Cut materials
- Position materials or components for assembly
What the work looks like
- Clean and polish metal items and jewelry pieces, using jewelers' tools, polishing wheels, and chemical baths.
- Smooth soldered joints and rough spots, using hand files and emery paper, and polish smoothed areas with polishing wheels or buffing wire.
- Create jewelry from materials such as gold, silver, platinum, and precious or semiprecious stones.
- Cut and file pieces of jewelry such as rings, brooches, bracelets, and lockets.
- Examine assembled or finished products to ensure conformance to specifications, using magnifying glasses or precision measuring instruments.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Dental laboratory techniciansHuman edge, steady, Index 64, -5.9%
- Traffic techniciansHuman edge, growing, Index 56, +4.0%
- Stationary engineers and boiler operatorsHuman edge, steady, Index 77, +3.1%
- Plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfittersHuman edge, growing, Index 91, +6.8%
Also known as: Bench Jeweler, Goldsmith, Jeweler, Silversmith, Diamond Cutter, Diamond Setter, Gemologist, Lapidarist.
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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.