Subsector, 313
Textile Mills
79,900 people work in this industry in the US, at mean pay of $52,500 a year (BLS, May 2025). What follows is how much of their working time the best AI models could finish, when, and in which jobs and tasks. Estimates.
of the paid hours. Estimate.
a year: 24 million hours at what they cost. Not a forecast of savings.
- 26%
- 4%
- 70%
of the paid hours are within reach now in tasks people already bring to Claude. Another 13% is within reach in tasks not yet seen there.
Across the US: 24% within reach now and 39% by the end of 2028, on the long-run pace at four in five.
Share of the paid hours within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this industry's paid hours were within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 2%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 15%. Today's estimate: 16%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Where the hours are
Jobs by hours within reach now. The 40 largest jobs hold 93% of the people.
| People | Pay here | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers | 4,080 | 35% | 2.9 million | $64K |
| Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers | 4,020 | 28% | 2.3 million | $39K |
| Textile Winding, Twisting, and Drawing Out Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders | 12,960 | 7% | 1.9 million | $38K |
| Textile Knitting and Weaving Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders | 7,600 | 9% | 1.5 million | $39K |
| Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks | 1,600 | 43% | 1.4 million | $41K |
| Industrial Machinery Mechanics | 3,900 | 15% | 1.2 million | $52K |
| Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products | 1,350 | 44% | 1.2 million | $76K |
| Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks | 620 | 76% | 985,254 | $51K |
| Textile Bleaching and Dyeing Machine Operators and Tenders | 4,260 | 11% | 974,688 | $38K |
| Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks | 720 | 63% | 946,483 | $50K |
| Office Clerks, General | 720 | 58% | 871,603 | $43K |
| Industrial Production Managers | 1,250 | 24% | 624,000 | $102K |
People: BLS counts for this industry, May 2025. Pay here: the median paid for the job in this industry, else its mean, else the national median. 62 smaller jobs (5,130 people) count in every total but are not listed. Task data covers 90% of the industry's people; the rest are in BLS "all other" groups with no task list, or in counts BLS does not publish.
The tasks with the most hours within reach by the end of 2028
Across the whole industry, on the chosen pace and reliability.
- Plan and develop new products and production processes.First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers1.2 million hours96% of the task within reach
- Plan and establish work schedules, assignments, and production sequences to meet production goals.First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers957,268 hours100% of the task within reach
- Study guides, samples, charts, and specification sheets, or confer with supervisors or engineering staff to determine setup requirements.Textile Winding, Twisting, and Drawing Out Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders875,287 hours100% of the task within reach
- Write test or inspection reports describing results, recommendations, or needed repairs.Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers711,906 hours100% of the task within reach
- Analyze test results, machine error messages, or information obtained from operators to diagnose equipment problems.Industrial Machinery Mechanics708,015 hours100% of the task within reach
- Read and analyze charts, work orders, production schedules, and other records and reports to determine production requirements and to evaluate current production estimates and outputs.First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers648,870 hours100% of the task within reach
- Program electronic equipment.Textile Knitting and Weaving Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders628,994 hours100% of the task within reach
- Notify supervisors or mechanics of equipment malfunctions.Textile Winding, Twisting, and Drawing Out Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders621,354 hours100% of the task within reach
- Study guides, loom patterns, samples, charts, or specification sheets, or confer with supervisors or engineering staff to determine setup requirements.Textile Knitting and Weaving Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders500,639 hours100% of the task within reach
- Determine standards, budgets, production goals, and rates, based on company policies, equipment and labor availability, and workloads.First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers481,614 hours100% of the task within reach
Scan a typical company in this industry
The industry's largest jobs, in the proportions BLS counts across the whole industry, at the pay it pays, run through the company scan. A starting point before you have a roster, or a benchmark for the one you have.
Inside this industry
Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
How it is built: BLS counts the people in each job in this industry; each job's tasks and their lengths give its share within reach at a date; the industry's share is those shares weighted by people. Value is pay times 1.43 for benefits and payroll costs. Seen in Claude use splits today's share by whether Anthropic saw people bring each task to Claude in 2025; other AI tools are not counted. How it works