Pulp and papermaking plant operators
AI can help with a few sub-tasks (emails, paperwork), but the core of the job doesn't change.
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).
- Completing and maintaining production reports.56
- Communicating with process control operators to make process adjustments and start up or shut down machinery and equipment as required35
- Analysing instrument readings and production test samples and making adjustments to production process and equipment as required34
- Inspecting paper visually for wrinkles, holes, discoloration, streaks or other defects and taking corrective action27
- Operating and monitoring papermaking and finishing process machinery and equipment to dry, calender, laminate, coat, slit, trim, wind or carry out other papermaking and finishing process steps21
- Operating and monitoring screening and bleaching equipment, digesters, mixing tanks, washers and other pulp processing machinery and equipment to carry out one or more cellulose processing steps18
- Controlling start-up and shut-down of machinery and equipment, and observing equipment and machinery panel indicators, gauges, and other equipment to detect machinery and equipment malfunctions and ensure process steps are carried out according to specifications17
- Mounting, positioning and threading paper rolls using a hoist14
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.
- Completing and maintaining production reports.(56)
- Communicating with process control operators to make process adjustments and start up or shut down machinery and equipment as required(35)
- Analysing instrument readings and production test samples and making adjustments to production process and equipment as required(34)
- Inspecting paper visually for wrinkles, holes, discoloration, streaks or other defects and taking corrective action(27)
- Operating and monitoring papermaking and finishing process machinery and equipment to dry, calender, laminate, coat, slit, trim, wind or carry out other papermaking and finishing process steps(21)
- Operating and monitoring screening and bleaching equipment, digesters, mixing tanks, washers and other pulp processing machinery and equipment to carry out one or more cellulose processing steps(18)
- Controlling start-up and shut-down of machinery and equipment, and observing equipment and machinery panel indicators, gauges, and other equipment to detect machinery and equipment malfunctions and ensure process steps are carried out according to specifications(17)
- Mounting, positioning and threading paper rolls using a hoist(14)
You are exactly at the occupation average. (The occupation's score: 28.)
About 13% of your working time goes to highly exposed tasks (score ≥ 50).
- • Completing and maintaining production reports.
- • Communicating with process control operators to make process adjustments and start up or shut down machinery and equipment as required
- • Mounting, positioning and threading paper rolls using a hoist
- • Controlling start-up and shut-down of machinery and equipment, and observing equipment and machinery panel indicators, gauges, and other equipment to detect machinery and equipment malfunctions and ensure process steps are carried out according to specifications
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?