Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

Highest risk Lowest scored
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
42.6 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Experienced operators can coordinate crews, setups, throughput, safety, and quality.

Maintenance Workers, Machinery
53% automation risk | Moderate Risk
Pays better Higher growth
27.5 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Builds on machine setup, jams, adjustment, preventive checks, and lockout procedures.

Printing Press Operators
69% automation risk | High Risk
More jobs
11.2 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Adjacent paper production work using press feeds, machine adjustments, stock handling, and quality checks.

Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers
74% automation risk | High Risk
Higher growth More jobs
6.4 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Applies defect recognition, measurements, sampling, standards, and packaging quality control.

Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks
67% automation risk | High Risk
Pays better Higher growth
13.6 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Uses work orders, material flow, production timing, job status, and shop-floor communication.

Compare this job with others
or search for another job
Share your results with friends and family.

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
1.9/10
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.

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.
Jobs that also use this strength

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

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 17 votes

84% 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 Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

View sentiment trend

Pay & outlook

Wages

Low paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders was $49,390 ($24 per hour).

The median annual wage for Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders was 0.2% 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 'Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders' job openings is expected to decline 6.3% 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

Moderate range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 96,950 people employed as 'Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders' within the United States.

This represents around 0.06% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 1 thousand people are employed as 'Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders'.

People also viewed

Actors Lawyers Accountants and Auditors Commercial Pilots Web Developers

What people are saying (0)

Leave a reply about this occupation
0/8000

Job description

Set up, operate, or tend paper goods machines that perform a variety of functions, such as converting, sawing, corrugating, banding, wrapping, boxing, stitching, forming, or sealing paper or paperboard sheets into products.

O*NET-SOC code: 51-9196.00