Prepress Technicians and Workers
Format and proof text and images submitted by designers and clients into finished pages that can be printed. Includes digital and photo typesetting. May produce printing plates.
23,840 people do this job in the US. $48,690 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 77%
- 0%
- 23%
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, 2%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 65%. Today's estimate: 71%.
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 . 15 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enter, position, and alter text size, using computers, to make up and arrange pages so that printed materials can be produced.Done hourly or more by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 30% | 1.3 h25 min to 2.5 h | 87%Half by now | |
| Generate prepress proofs in digital or other format to approximate the appearance of the final printed piece.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 16% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | 95%Half by now | |
| Proofread and perform quality control of text and images.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 15% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | 95%Half by now | |
| Operate and maintain laser plate-making equipment that converts electronic data to plates without the use of film.Done daily by most who do it. | 9% | 50 min17 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Perform "preflight" check of required font, graphic, text and image files to ensure completeness prior to delivery to printer.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 25 min8 min to 1.1 h | 98%Half by now | |
| Enter, store, and retrieve information on computer-aided equipment.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 6% | 13 min4 min to 33 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Operate presses to print proofs of plates, monitoring printing quality to ensure that it is adequate.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 50 min17 min to 2.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Maintain, adjust, and clean equipment, and perform minor repairs.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Examine finished plates to detect flaws, verify conformity with master plates, and measure dot sizes and centers, using light boxes and microscopes.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 3% | 25 min8 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Examine photographic images for obvious imperfections prior to plate making.Done daily by most who do it. | 2% | 17 min4 min to 50 min | 96%Half by now | |
| Set scanners to specific color densities, sizes, screen rulings, and exposure adjustments, using scanner keyboards or computers.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 2% | 25 min8 min to 1.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Analyze originals to evaluate color density, gradation highlights, middle tones, and shadows, using densitometers and knowledge of light and color.Done daily by most who do it. | 1% | 25 min8 min to 1.3 h | 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.
- Photographic Process Workers and Processing Machine Operators14% now, 14% by 2028
- Printing Press Operators24% now, 24% by 2028
- Etchers and Engravers21% now, 21% by 2028
- Office Machine Operators, Except Computer11% now, 11% by 2028
- Print Binding and Finishing Workers4% now, 8% by 2028
- Patternmakers, Metal and Plastic16% now, 35% 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).