Painting, Coating, and Decorating Workers
Paint, coat, or decorate articles, such as furniture, glass, plateware, pottery, jewelry, toys, books, or leather.
7,940 people do this job in the US. $41,600 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 0%
- 0%
- 100%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 0%. Today's estimate: 0%.
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.
The tasks
Sorted by . 9 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apply coatings, such as paint, ink, or lacquer, to protect or decorate workpiece surfaces, using spray guns, pens, or brushes.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 48% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Clean surfaces of workpieces in preparation for coating, using cleaning fluids, solvents, brushes, scrapers, steam, sandpaper, or cloth.Done daily by most who do it. | 12% | 29 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Clean and maintain tools and equipment, using solvents, brushes, and rags.Done daily by most who do it. | 10% | 21 min8 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Select and mix ingredients to prepare coating substances according to specifications, using paddles or mechanical mixers.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 10% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Examine finished surfaces of workpieces to verify conformance to specifications and retouch any defective areas.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Rinse, drain, or wipe coated workpieces to remove excess coating material or to facilitate setting of finish coats on workpieces.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 17 min4 min to 33 min | Stays with people | |
| Read job orders and inspect workpieces to determine work procedures and materials required.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 8 min4 min to 21 min | Stays with people | |
| Place coated workpieces in ovens or dryers for specified times to dry or harden finishes.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 3% | 8 min4 min to 21 min | Stays with people | |
| Conceal blemishes in workpieces, such as nicks and dents, using fillers such as putty.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 1.0% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders1% now, 1% by 2028
- Etchers and Engravers21% now, 21% by 2028
- Painters, Construction and Maintenance4% now, 4% by 2028
- Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic0% now, 0% by 2028
- Furniture Finishers4% now, 4% by 2028
- Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand11% now, 11% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).