Packers and packagers, hand

Pack or package by hand a wide variety of products and materials.

AI Resistance Index 51 of 99

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 low), and US jobs are projected to change by -5.0% by 2035, expected to shrink.

AI struggles with much of this work. Hiring is expected to grow slower than average, or to shrink.

Median pay (2025): $36,280
Job growth to 2035: -5.0%
Openings a year: 61,800
People doing it (2025): 556,000
Usual route in: No formal credential, then short on-the-job training

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Where people already use AI for this work

Set up equipment
Measure physical characteristics of materials, products, or equipment

From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).

Work AI rarely helps with

Move materials, equipment, or supplies
Monitor operations to ensure adequate performance
Inspect completed work or finished products

What the work looks like

Examine and inspect containers, materials, or products to ensure that product quality and packing specifications are met.
Measure, weigh, and count products and materials.
Remove completed or defective products or materials, placing them on moving equipment, such as conveyors, or in specified areas, such as loading docks.
Record product, packaging, and order information on specified forms and records.
Seal containers or materials, using glues, fasteners, nails, and hand tools.

From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.

What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects

Fewer of these jobs, as automated filling, bagging, packing, and palletizing equipment is used in new facilities instead of hand packers.
Fewer of these jobs, as collaborative automation within warehouses increase.

Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook

Parking attendantsHuman edge, steady, Index 58, +2.0%
Cleaners of vehicles and equipmentHuman edge, growing, Index 90, +3.9%
Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, handHuman edge, steady, Index 72, +1.8%
Cleaning, washing, and metal pickling equipment operators and tendersHuman edge, steady, Index 76, +3.4%

Also known as: Bagger, Packager, Packer, Selector Packer, Crater, Mini Shifter, Pack Out Operator, Packaging Specialist.

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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.