Metal working machine tool setters and operators
In the ILO's assessment few of the job's tasks can be done by generative AI, or the scores are too spread out to reach gradient 1 — generative AI does not meaningfully take over the core of the work.
Exposure is not job loss: it shows how much of the work generative AI could do today. Whether that turns into transformation, productivity gains or cuts depends on employers, regulation — and on you.
0 = today’s generative AI cannot perform any of the job’s tasks, 100 = it could do all of them fully. The pale band is the spread across tasks.
Work out your own score ↓What can you do?
The AI analysis for this occupation is still being prepared — the background process covers a few occupations every day.
Task by task
The ILO scored every task of the occupation separately, as the average of two AI models (GPT-4o and Gemini). The pale band is the range between the two models' scores, the dot the ILO's final score (for a few tasks expert review placed it outside the band).
- Inspecting work pieces for defects, and measuring work pieces to determine accuracy of machine operation, using rules, templates or other measuring instruments25
- Observing machine operations to detect work piece defects or machine malfunctions, and adjusting machines as necessary24
- Setting one or more types of machine tool for production of metal articles in standardized series16
- Operating and monitoring metal working machines, such as lathes, milling, planing, boring, drilling, grinding or honing machines, including multipurpose numerically controlled metal working machines16
- Performing similar tasks when machining plastics and other metal substitutes15
- Changing worn machine accessories, such as cutting tools and brushes, using hand tools.13
How much does it affect you?
Every job is different: mark which of these tasks you do and how much, and we'll compute your own, time-weighted score.
For each task: I don't do it · sometimes · most of my job.
- Inspecting work pieces for defects, and measuring work pieces to determine accuracy of machine operation, using rules, templates or other measuring instruments(25)
- Observing machine operations to detect work piece defects or machine malfunctions, and adjusting machines as necessary(24)
- Setting one or more types of machine tool for production of metal articles in standardized series(16)
- Operating and monitoring metal working machines, such as lathes, milling, planing, boring, drilling, grinding or honing machines, including multipurpose numerically controlled metal working machines(16)
- Performing similar tasks when machining plastics and other metal substitutes(15)
- Changing worn machine accessories, such as cutting tools and brushes, using hand tools.(13)
You are exactly at the occupation average. (The occupation's score: 18.)
About 0% of your working time goes to highly exposed tasks (score ≥ 50).
- • Inspecting work pieces for defects, and measuring work pieces to determine accuracy of machine operation, using rules, templates or other measuring instruments
- • Observing machine operations to detect work piece defects or machine malfunctions, and adjusting machines as necessary
- • Changing worn machine accessories, such as cutting tools and brushes, using hand tools.
- • Performing similar tasks when machining plastics and other metal substitutes
An estimate from the ILO task scores. Everything is computed in your browser — nothing is sent or stored.
How many people work in this occupational group?
Share of the Metal, machinery and related trades workers group in total employment, by country (Eurostat, ISCO 2-digit — 4-digit breakdowns are not public by country).
Table view
| Country | Metal, machinery and related trades workers |
|---|---|
| Czechia | 6.0% · 315 thousand · 2025 |
| Romania | 5.4% · 415 thousand · 2025 |
| Slovenia | 5.1% · 50 thousand · 2025 |
| Hungary | 4.7% · 219 thousand · 2025 |
| Germany | 4.7% · 1,972 thousand · 2025 |
| Croatia | 4.6% · 78 thousand · 2025 |
| Estonia | 4.5% · 31 thousand · 2025 |
| Slovakia | 4.5% · 116 thousand · 2025 |
| Poland | 4.1% · 706 thousand · 2025 |
| Lithuania | 3.9% · 57 thousand · 2025 |
| Austria | 3.8% · 172 thousand · 2025 |
| Italy | 3.8% · 919 thousand · 2025 |
| Bulgaria | 3.6% · 106 thousand · 2025 |
| Latvia | 3.4% · 30 thousand · 2025 |
| Portugal | 3.4% · 177 thousand · 2025 |
| Finland | 3.3% · 85 thousand · 2025 |
| France | 2.9% · 845 thousand · 2025 |
| Spain | 2.8% · 621 thousand · 2025 |
| Switzerland | 2.7% · 132 thousand · 2025 |
| Sweden | 2.7% · 141 thousand · 2025 |
| Iceland | 2.6% · 6 thousand · 2025 |
| Belgium | 2.4% · 121 thousand · 2025 |
| Ireland | 2.2% · 63 thousand · 2025 |
| Norway | 2.2% · 65 thousand · 2025 |
| Denmark | 2.2% · 68 thousand · 2025 |
| Greece | 2.2% · 95 thousand · 2025 |
| Malta | 2.1% · 7 thousand · 2025 |
| Netherlands | 1.8% · 173 thousand · 2025 |
| Cyprus | 1.7% · 9 thousand · 2025 |
| United Kingdom | 1.6% · 547 thousand · 2025 |
What do they earn?
Mean gross monthly earnings in the major occupational group (Craft and related trades workers). Eurostat's earnings survey only publishes pay by occupation at 1 digit, so this is the job's broader group. Enterprises with 10+ employees, 2022.
By country, at purchasing power parity (PPS/month), so countries with different price levels can be compared.
- Switzerland4,098
- Iceland3,826
- Denmark3,666
- Norway3,260
- Belgium2,979
- Germany2,859
- Luxembourg2,760
- Sweden2,733
- Netherlands2,717
- Austria2,715
- Finland2,711
- EU272,364
- Italy2,314
- Ireland2,200
- Spain2,124
- France2,122
- Malta2,032
- Slovenia2,012
- Lithuania2,008
- Greece1,799
- Estonia1,795
- Poland1,787
- Czechia1,781
- Cyprus1,751
- Romania1,734
- Hungary1,684
- Latvia1,680
- Slovakia1,672
- Croatia1,505
- Portugal1,285
- Bulgaria1,217
Source: Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey (earn_ses22_21), every four years. The United Kingdom is not covered by the survey.
Outlook to 2035
Employment in the Metal, machinery and related trades workers group according to Cedefop's 2026 forecast.
thousand · Cedefop Skills Forecast 2026 · 2026–2035: projection
Replacement demand is the jobs left by people retiring or changing careers — even a shrinking occupation can have many openings.
Related occupations
Sources: ILO WP140 (2025) · Eurostat lfsa_egai2d · Cedefop Skills Forecast 2026 · WEF Future of Jobs 2025 · ESCO. The exposure score measures how much of an occupation's tasks generative AI could perform — not whether the job disappears. For information only, not career advice. How do we calculate this?