Pourers and Casters, Metal
Operate hand-controlled mechanisms to pour and regulate the flow of molten metal into molds to produce castings or ingots.
4,560 people do this job in the US. $51,810 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 . 16 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pour and regulate the flow of molten metal into molds and forms to produce ingots or other castings, using ladles or hand-controlled mechanisms.Done daily by most who do it. | 15% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Repair and maintain metal forms and equipment, using hand tools, sledges, and bars.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 12% | 1.3 h25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Load specified amounts of metal and flux into furnaces or clay crucibles.Done daily by most who do it. | 9% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Skim slag or remove excess metal from ingots or equipment, using hand tools, strainers, rakes, or burners, collecting scrap for recycling.Done daily by most who do it. | 9% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Read temperature gauges and observe color changes, adjusting furnace flames, torches, or electrical heating units as necessary to melt metal to specifications.Done daily by most who do it. | 9% | 13 min4 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Remove metal ingots or cores from molds, using hand tools, cranes, and chain hoists.Done daily by most who do it. | 8% | 33 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Assemble and embed cores in casting frames, using hand tools and equipment.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 33 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Position equipment such as ladles, grinding wheels, pouring nozzles, or crucibles, or signal other workers to position equipment.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 13 min4 min to 33 min | Stays with people | |
| Examine molds to ensure they are clean, smooth, and properly coated.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Remove solidified steel or slag from pouring nozzles, using long bars or oxygen burners.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Collect samples, or signal workers to sample metal for analysis.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 8 min4 min to 17 min | Stays with people | |
| Pull levers to lift ladle stoppers and to allow molten steel to flow into ingot molds to specified heights.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 13 min4 min to 25 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.
- Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic0% now, 0% by 2028
- Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic14% now, 14% by 2028
- Forging Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic6% now, 6% by 2028
- Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand11% now, 11% by 2028
- Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic6% now, 6% by 2028
- Metal-Refining Furnace Operators and Tenders8% now, 8% 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).