Career Explorer Production
Human edge, steady
Pourers and casters, metal
Operate hand-controlled mechanisms to pour and regulate the flow of molten metal into molds to produce castings or ingots.
In the middle of the pack: more resilient than 48% 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 -5.0% 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)
- $51,810
- Job growth to 2035
- -5.0%
- Openings a year
- 400
- People doing it (2025)
- 4,600
- 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
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Load products, materials, or equipment for transportation or further processing
- Signal others to coordinate work activities
- Remove workpieces from production equipment
What the work looks like
- Pour and regulate the flow of molten metal into molds and forms to produce ingots or other castings, using ladles or hand-controlled mechanisms.
- Read temperature gauges and observe color changes, adjusting furnace flames, torches, or electrical heating units as necessary to melt metal to specifications.
- Remove solidified steel or slag from pouring nozzles, using long bars or oxygen burners.
- Assemble and embed cores in casting frames, using hand tools and equipment.
- Examine molds to ensure they are clean, smooth, and properly coated.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- Fewer of these jobs, as programmable machines, such as robotics and computer-controlled (CNC) machinery, increasingly replace less advanced machinery, increasing efficiency.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plasticHuman edge, steady, Index 52, -3.4%
- Ophthalmic laboratory techniciansHuman edge, steady, Index 68, +2.2%
- Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, woodHuman edge, steady, Index 57, -1.0%
- Laundry and dry-cleaning workersHuman edge, growing, Index 83, +4.3%
Also known as: Caster, Melter, Metal Handler, Pourer, Casting Machine Operator, Casting Operator, DC Caster (Direct Chill Caster), Die Cast Machine 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.