Print finishing and binding 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).
- Operating photographic and electronic reproduction devices.37
- Setting up and supervising the operation of automatic binding and finishing equipment28
- Embellishing printed products automatically and manually27
- Operating systems to insert printed material into newspapers, magazines and envelopes19
- Operating paper guillotines for pre-press and post-press paper cutting and trimming, and programming electronically operated units18
- Folding, collating and sewing signatures by machine and hand14
- Binding full, half and limp-bound books, and repairing bindings13
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.
- Operating photographic and electronic reproduction devices.(37)
- Setting up and supervising the operation of automatic binding and finishing equipment(28)
- Embellishing printed products automatically and manually(27)
- Operating systems to insert printed material into newspapers, magazines and envelopes(19)
- Operating paper guillotines for pre-press and post-press paper cutting and trimming, and programming electronically operated units(18)
- Folding, collating and sewing signatures by machine and hand(14)
- Binding full, half and limp-bound books, and repairing bindings(13)
You are exactly at the occupation average. (The occupation's score: 22.)
About 0% of your working time goes to highly exposed tasks (score ≥ 50).
- • Operating photographic and electronic reproduction devices.
- • Setting up and supervising the operation of automatic binding and finishing equipment
- • Binding full, half and limp-bound books, and repairing bindings
- • Folding, collating and sewing signatures by machine and hand
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.
According to the WEF
Printing and Related Trades Workers — among the FASTEST-DECLINING jobs (rank 6)
Future 2035 →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?