Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand

Highest risk Lowest scored
Imminent Risk
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Explore safer careers (5)

Lower estimated automation risk

First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers
38% automation risk | Low Risk
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Why it fits

Experienced finishers can move into crew lead and production supervision after showing shop leadership.

Tool and Die Makers
55% automation risk | Moderate Risk
Pays better Higher growth
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Why it fits

Precision finishing and tool care are useful foundations for a higher-skill tooling pathway.

Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
69% automation risk | High Risk
Pays better Higher growth
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Why it fits

Precision shop habits and tolerance awareness support movement into turning-machine operation.

Machinists
66% automation risk | High Risk
Pays better Higher growth
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Why it fits

Uses knowledge of materials, finish, tolerances, and shop tools with additional machining training.

Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers
74% automation risk | High Risk
Pays better Higher growth
6.3 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Surface-finish judgment and defect recognition transfer well into quality inspection roles.

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Occupation snapshot

What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
1.0/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

80% (Imminent Risk)

Imminent Risk (81-100%): This occupation appears highly exposed to end-to-end replacement by AI, software, robotics, or other computer-controlled systems. Roles in this range often involve predictable, repeatable, or rules-based work with limited need for human judgement, trust, creativity, or adaptation to messy real-world conditions. This does not mean every job will disappear immediately, but it is a strong signal to consider safer alternatives or start building more resilient skills.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Human strengths important in this job

These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.

Thinking creatively

Very important
Why this matters
Coming up with original ideas and designs—creating new concepts, products, systems, or artistic work. This kind of open-ended invention and taste-based judgment is harder to automate end-to-end than routine, rule-based tasks.
Jobs that also use this strength

Decision-making and problem solving

Very important
Why this matters
Analyze information, weigh tradeoffs, and choose the best solution—especially when situations are ambiguous, high-stakes, or have real-world consequences.
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Consulting and advising others

Very important
Why this matters
Provide guidance and expert advice to managers or teams on technical, system, or process decisions—explaining options, tradeoffs, and recommended actions.
Jobs that also use this strength

Assisting and caring for others

Quite important
Why this matters
Provide hands-on help, emotional support, or personal care to people—work that depends on empathy, trust, and responding to individual needs in the moment.
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Coaching and developing others

Quite important
Why this matters
Helps people learn and improve through coaching, mentoring, and feedback. This relies on trust, motivation, and adapting guidance to each person—work that’s hard to replace end-to-end with automation.
Jobs that also use this strength
Show 1 more strength

Coordinating others’ work

Quite important
Why this matters
Bringing people together, assigning tasks, and keeping a group aligned so work gets done.
Jobs that also use this strength

What users think

Based on 26 votes

85% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted that it's very probable this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 80% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

View sentiment trend

Pay & outlook

Wages

Very low paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand was $41,690 ($20 per hour).

The median annual wage for Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand was 15.8% lower than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.

View wage trend

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Very slow growth relative to other professions.

The number of 'Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand' job openings is expected to decline 21.2% by 2034

View employment trend

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Volume

Significantly lower range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 11,850 people employed as 'Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand' within the United States.

This represents around < 0.001% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 13 thousand people are employed as 'Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand'.

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Job description

Grind, sand, or polish, using hand tools or hand-held power tools, a variety of metal, wood, stone, clay, plastic, or glass objects. Includes chippers, buffers, and finishers.

O*NET-SOC code: 51-9022.00