Career Explorer Production
Human edge, steady
Textile bleaching and dyeing machine operators and tenders
Operate or tend machines to bleach, shrink, wash, dye, or finish textiles or synthetic or glass fibers.
Changing faster than most: more resilient than 28% 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 -12.5% 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)
- $38,180
- Job growth to 2035
- -12.5%
- Openings a year
- 600
- People doing it (2025)
- 5,700
- Usual route in
- High school diploma, then short on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Communicate with others about operational plans or activities
- Adjust equipment to ensure adequate performance
- Program computer systems or production equipment
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Clean workpieces, finished products, or other objects
- Monitor equipment operation
- Notify others of emergencies or problems
What the work looks like
- Weigh ingredients, such as dye, to be mixed together for use in textile processing.
- Start and control machines and equipment to wash, bleach, dye, or otherwise process and finish fabric, yarn, thread, or other textile goods.
- Observe display screens, control panels, equipment, and cloth entering or exiting processes to determine if equipment is operating correctly.
- Notify supervisors or mechanics of equipment malfunctions.
- Monitor factors such as temperatures and dye flow rates to ensure that they are within specified ranges.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazersHuman edge, steady, Index 67, +2.4%
- Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tendersHuman edge, steady, Index 65, +1.5%
- Plating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plasticHuman edge, steady, Index 31, -9.7%
- Drilling and boring machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plasticHuman edge, steady, Index 46, -9.5%
Also known as: Dye Machine Operator, Dye Operator, Dyer, Machine Operator (Machine Op), Beck Operator, Dye House Worker, Dye Line Operator, Dye Tub 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.