Helpers--Production Workers

Highest risk Lowest scored Low pay & highrisk
Imminent Risk
Low High

Explore safer careers (5)

Lower estimated automation risk

First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers
38% automation risk | Low Risk
Pays better Higher growth
44.4 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Advancement path for experienced helpers who can coordinate line tasks, safety, quality, staffing, and output.

Team Assemblers
77% automation risk | High Risk
Pays better Higher growth
5.7 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Uses production assistance, parts handling, work orders, rotation through tasks, quality checks, and teamwork.

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

Applies line familiarity, defect recognition, sorting, measurements, samples, specifications, and quality records.

Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators
71% automation risk | High Risk
Pays better Higher growth
11 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Fits workers who handle materials and can add forklift or industrial vehicle training and safety certification.

Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand
73% automation risk | High Risk
Higher growth More jobs
9.7 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Reuses moving materials, staging supplies, loading, hand tools, physical work, and warehouse safety.

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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
1.4/10
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

82% (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.

Decision-making and problem solving

Quite 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.
Jobs that also use this strength

What users think

Based on 75 votes

79% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted that it's probable this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 82% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Helpers--Production Workers will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

Sentiment

Based on user votes over time

View sentiment trend

How opinions have changed over time

Pay & outlook

Wages

Very low paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Helpers--Production Workers was $38,220 ($18 per hour).

The median annual wage for Helpers--Production Workers was 22.8% 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 'Helpers--Production Workers' job openings is expected to decline 8.9% 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

Greater range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 167,490 people employed as 'Helpers--Production Workers' within the United States.

This represents around 0.11% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 920 people are employed as 'Helpers--Production Workers'.

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What people are saying (3)

Edward banting (Highly likely)
06 Feb 2026 05:12
Machines may not have the manual and finger dexterity, but they are already capable of accomplishing the basics of this job
Dawid (Low)
08 Jul 2025 20:32
I think that demand for products from certain companies that will have not adopted automation will not decrease that fast. My estimation is > 10 years for robots to take human jobs in production sites.
automationsucks@dontbeleivethehype.com (No chance)
17 Aug 2019 17:53
Automation in factories is actually quite inefficient in most cases. Machines do one task repeatadly well, but they are not versatile for more challenging tasks (multi step) and they cannot be adapted easily when a factory line changes
Leave a reply about this occupation
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Job description

Help production workers by performing duties requiring less skill. Duties include supplying or holding materials or tools, and cleaning work area and equipment.

O*NET-SOC code: 51-9198.00