As of June 2026, Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood has an AI-exposure score of 40/100 (Moderate exposure) on the AI-Safe Careers index, blending O*NET tasks, the Anthropic Economic Index, the Penn/OpenAI study, and BLS data. This is an estimate of task exposure, not a prediction of job loss.
Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood
More exposed than 10% of the roles we track. Median pay ~US$42,770. About 4,800 projected openings a year (BLS 2024–34 — growth plus replacement).
Pay & demand figures are US medians (BLS, in USD) — your local figures will differ. Your exposure score applies broadly.
How you compare to similar Production roles
Your tasks, by AI exposure
No automatable tasks identified for this role — its real, individually-assessed tasks consistently read as augmentable (75%).
- Count, sort, or stack finished workpieces.
- Monitor sawing machines, adjusting speed and tension and clearing jams to ensure proper operation.
- Clear machine jams, using hand tools.
- Lubricate or clean machines, using wrenches, grease guns, or solvents.
- Examine blueprints, drawings, work orders, or patterns to determine equipment set-up or selection details, procedures to be used, or dimensions of final products.
- Mount and bolt sawing blades or attachments to machine shafts.
- Position and clamp stock on tables, conveyors, or carriages, using hoists, guides, stops, dogs, wedges, or wrenches.
- Adjust saw blades, using wrenches and rulers, or by turning handwheels or pressing pedals, levers, or panel buttons.
- Examine logs or lumber to plan the best cuts.
- Adjust bolts, clamps, stops, guides, or table angles or heights, using hand tools.
- Sharpen blades, or replace defective or worn blades or bands, using hand tools.
- Set up, operate, or tend saws or machines that cut or trim wood to specified dimensions, such as circular saws, band saws, multiple-blade sawing machines, scroll saws, ripsaws, or crozer machines.
- Guide workpieces against saws, saw over workpieces by hand, or operate automatic feeding devices to guide cuts.
- Trim lumber to straighten rough edges or remove defects, using circular saws.
- Measure and mark stock for cuts.
- Operate panelboards of saw or conveyor systems to move stock through processes or to cut stock to specified dimensions.
- Inspect stock for imperfections or to estimate grades or qualities of stock or workpieces.
- Inspect and measure workpieces to mark for cuts and to verify the accuracy of cuts, using rulers, squares, or caliper rules.
- Select saw blades, types or grades of stock, or cutting procedures to be used, according to work orders or supervisors' instructions.
- Cut grooves, bevels, or miters, saw curved or irregular designs, and sever or shape metals, according to specifications or work orders.
Safer adjacent roles
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