Human edge, steady

Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing

Set up, operate, or tend woodworking machines, such as drill presses, lathes, shapers, routers, sanders, planers, and wood nailing machines. May operate computer numerically controlled (CNC) equipment.

AI Resistance Index 44 of 99

In the middle of the pack: more resilient than 44% 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 -2.5% 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): $43,380
Job growth to 2035: -2.5%
Openings a year: 5,300
People doing it (2025): 60,900
Usual route in: High school diploma, then moderate on-the-job training

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Where people already use AI for this work

Adjust equipment to ensure adequate performance
Select materials or equipment for operations or projects
Determine operational methods or procedures

From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).

Work AI rarely helps with

Position workpieces or materials on equipment
Operate cutting or grinding equipment
Load products, materials, or equipment for transportation or further processing

What the work looks like

Set up, program, operate, or tend computerized or manual woodworking machines, such as drill presses, lathes, shapers, routers, sanders, planers, or wood-nailing machines.
Examine finished workpieces for smoothness, shape, angle, depth-of-cut, or conformity to specifications and verify dimensions, visually and using hands, rules, calipers, templates, or gauges.
Start machines, adjust controls, and make trial cuts to ensure that machinery is operating properly.
Monitor operation of machines and make adjustments to correct problems and ensure conformance to specifications.
Examine raw woodstock for defects and to ensure conformity to size and other specification standards.

From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.

What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects

Fewer of these jobs, as advances in CNC equipment allow for additional output to be produced by fewer woodworkers.

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%
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plasticHuman edge, steady, Index 52, -3.4%
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazersHuman edge, steady, Index 67, +2.4%

Also known as: Cabinet Maker, Machine Operator, Sander, Sander Operator, Boring Machine Operator, Knot Saw Operator, Lathe Operator, Molder 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.