Potters and related workers
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).
- Reading technical drawings to know customer’s requirements34
- Preparing work for sale or exhibition, and maintaining relationships with retail, pottery, art and resource networks that can facilitate sale or exhibition of work.26
- Adjusting and setting controls of pug mill that mix, extrudes, cuts, and deposits clay charges in or over moulds as specified24
- Examining finished ware for defects verifying accuracy of shapes and sizes of objects, using callipers and templates19
- Adjusting wheel speeds according to the feel of the clay as pieces enlarge and walls become thinner15
- Forming abrasive wheels by moulding and pressing an abrasive mixture by hand or by machine15
- Operating jigger machines to form ceramic ware, such as bowls, cups, plates and saucers15
- Making clay or plaster-of-Paris moulds13
- Forming articles on potter's wheel by pressing thumbs into centres of revolving clay to form hollows, and press on the inside and outside of emerging clay cylinders with hands and fingers, gradually raising and shaping clay to desired forms and sizes13
- Making articles of pottery and porcelain12
- Smoothening surfaces of finished pieces, using rubber scrapers and wet sponges10
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.
- Reading technical drawings to know customer’s requirements(34)
- Preparing work for sale or exhibition, and maintaining relationships with retail, pottery, art and resource networks that can facilitate sale or exhibition of work.(26)
- Adjusting and setting controls of pug mill that mix, extrudes, cuts, and deposits clay charges in or over moulds as specified(24)
- Examining finished ware for defects verifying accuracy of shapes and sizes of objects, using callipers and templates(19)
- Adjusting wheel speeds according to the feel of the clay as pieces enlarge and walls become thinner(15)
- Forming abrasive wheels by moulding and pressing an abrasive mixture by hand or by machine(15)
- Operating jigger machines to form ceramic ware, such as bowls, cups, plates and saucers(15)
- Making clay or plaster-of-Paris moulds(13)
- Forming articles on potter's wheel by pressing thumbs into centres of revolving clay to form hollows, and press on the inside and outside of emerging clay cylinders with hands and fingers, gradually raising and shaping clay to desired forms and sizes(13)
- Making articles of pottery and porcelain(12)
- Smoothening surfaces of finished pieces, using rubber scrapers and wet sponges(10)
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).
- • Reading technical drawings to know customer‚Äôs requirements
- • Preparing work for sale or exhibition, and maintaining relationships with retail, pottery, art and resource networks that can facilitate sale or exhibition of work.
- • Smoothening surfaces of finished pieces, using rubber scrapers and wet sponges
- • Making articles of pottery and porcelain
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 Handicraft and printing workers group in total employment, by country (Eurostat, ISCO 2-digit — 4-digit breakdowns are not public by country).
Table view
| Country | Handicraft and printing workers |
|---|---|
| Italy | 1.0% · 230 thousand · 2025 |
| Switzerland | 0.7% · 32 thousand · 2025 |
| Slovenia | 0.6% · 6 thousand · 2025 |
| Hungary | 0.6% · 28 thousand · 2025 |
| Bulgaria | 0.5% · 16 thousand · 2025 |
| Portugal | 0.5% · 27 thousand · 2025 |
| Lithuania | 0.5% · 7 thousand · 2025 |
| Poland | 0.5% · 80 thousand · 2025 |
| Germany | 0.5% · 192 thousand · 2025 |
| Malta | 0.4% · 1 thousand · 2025 |
| Czechia | 0.4% · 22 thousand · 2025 |
| Croatia | 0.4% · 7 thousand · 2025 |
| France | 0.4% · 117 thousand · 2025 |
| Slovakia | 0.4% · 10 thousand · 2025 |
| Greece | 0.4% · 17 thousand · 2025 |
| Austria | 0.4% · 16 thousand · 2025 |
| Estonia | 0.3% · 2 thousand · 2025 |
| United Kingdom | 0.3% · 108 thousand · 2025 |
| Romania | 0.3% · 24 thousand · 2025 |
| Belgium | 0.3% · 16 thousand · 2025 |
| Spain | 0.3% · 65 thousand · 2025 |
| Netherlands | 0.3% · 28 thousand · 2025 |
| Denmark | 0.3% · 9 thousand · 2025 |
| Latvia | 0.3% · 2 thousand · 2025 |
| Norway | 0.2% · 7 thousand · 2025 |
| Sweden | 0.2% · 13 thousand · 2025 |
| Ireland | 0.2% · 6 thousand · 2025 |
| Cyprus | 0.2% · 1 thousand · 2025 |
| Finland | 0.2% · 5 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 Handicraft and printing 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
- Precision-instrument makers and repairers21
- Glass makers, cutters, grinders and finishers19
- Jewellery and precious-metal workers18
- Sign writers, decorative painters, engravers and etchers18
- Musical instrument makers and tuners14
- Handicraft workers in wood, basketry and related materials14
- Handicraft workers in textile, leather and related materials13
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?