Chemical products plant and machine 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).
- Making samples and performing routine chemical and physical tests of products and recording production data35
- Monitoring reaction processes and transfers of products in conformity with safety procedures30
- Monitoring meters, gauges and electronic instrumentation on one or more chemical or formulation units, such as mixers, kettles, blenders, dryers, tabletting, encapsulation, granulation and coating machines28
- Measuring, weighing and loading chemical ingredients following formulation cards21
- Setting up, starting, controlling, adjusting and stopping machines and plant20
- Cleaning and performing minor repairs to machines and plant.14
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.
- Making samples and performing routine chemical and physical tests of products and recording production data(35)
- Monitoring reaction processes and transfers of products in conformity with safety procedures(30)
- Monitoring meters, gauges and electronic instrumentation on one or more chemical or formulation units, such as mixers, kettles, blenders, dryers, tabletting, encapsulation, granulation and coating machines(28)
- Measuring, weighing and loading chemical ingredients following formulation cards(21)
- Setting up, starting, controlling, adjusting and stopping machines and plant(20)
- Cleaning and performing minor repairs to machines and plant.(14)
You are exactly at the occupation average. (The occupation's score: 24.)
About 0% of your working time goes to highly exposed tasks (score ≥ 50).
- • Making samples and performing routine chemical and physical tests of products and recording production data
- • Monitoring reaction processes and transfers of products in conformity with safety procedures
- • Cleaning and performing minor repairs to machines and plant.
- • Setting up, starting, controlling, adjusting and stopping machines and plant
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 Stationary plant and machine operators group in total employment, by country (Eurostat, ISCO 2-digit — 4-digit breakdowns are not public by country).
Table view
| Country | Stationary plant and machine operators |
|---|---|
| Bulgaria | 3.9% · 114 thousand · 2025 |
| Hungary | 3.7% · 171 thousand · 2025 |
| Romania | 3.3% · 254 thousand · 2025 |
| Slovenia | 3.3% · 33 thousand · 2025 |
| Czechia | 3.2% · 167 thousand · 2025 |
| Slovakia | 3.1% · 81 thousand · 2025 |
| Portugal | 3.0% · 159 thousand · 2025 |
| Estonia | 2.8% · 19 thousand · 2025 |
| Croatia | 2.8% · 47 thousand · 2025 |
| Poland | 2.7% · 462 thousand · 2025 |
| Italy | 2.6% · 620 thousand · 2025 |
| Finland | 2.3% · 59 thousand · 2025 |
| France | 2.0% · 594 thousand · 2025 |
| Norway | 2.0% · 58 thousand · 2025 |
| Spain | 1.9% · 427 thousand · 2025 |
| Germany | 1.9% · 784 thousand · 2025 |
| Belgium | 1.8% · 93 thousand · 2025 |
| Lithuania | 1.7% · 26 thousand · 2025 |
| Denmark | 1.5% · 46 thousand · 2025 |
| Greece | 1.5% · 64 thousand · 2025 |
| Latvia | 1.4% · 12 thousand · 2025 |
| Switzerland | 1.3% · 61 thousand · 2025 |
| Ireland | 1.2% · 34 thousand · 2025 |
| Austria | 1.2% · 55 thousand · 2025 |
| Sweden | 1.1% · 59 thousand · 2025 |
| Cyprus | 1.0% · 5 thousand · 2025 |
| United Kingdom | 0.8% · 288 thousand · 2025 |
| Malta | 0.8% · 3 thousand · 2025 |
| Iceland | 0.8% · 2 thousand · 2025 |
| Netherlands | 0.6% · 63 thousand · 2025 |
What do they earn?
Mean gross monthly earnings in the major occupational group (Plant and machine operators and assemblers). 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.
- Switzerland3,902
- Denmark3,581
- Norway3,391
- Iceland3,272
- Ireland3,013
- Belgium3,003
- Luxembourg2,848
- Finland2,711
- Austria2,708
- Netherlands2,689
- Germany2,646
- Sweden2,578
- Italy2,397
- EU272,188
- Spain2,169
- France2,125
- Slovenia1,961
- Poland1,931
- Lithuania1,895
- Cyprus1,832
- Malta1,828
- Greece1,726
- Estonia1,653
- Romania1,652
- Hungary1,630
- Croatia1,623
- Czechia1,621
- Latvia1,590
- Slovakia1,571
- Portugal1,289
- Bulgaria1,106
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 Stationary plant and machine operators 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?