Reinforcing Iron and Rebar Workers
In short: today's best AI models could do about 8% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about the same by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 92% of the time, stays with people.
Position and secure steel bars or mesh in concrete forms in order to reinforce concrete. Use a variety of fasteners, rod-bending machines, blowtorches, and hand tools. Includes rod busters.
13,800 people do this job in the US. $58,970 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on3 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people37 h
Reinforcing Iron and Rebar Workers, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 3 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 37 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Determine quantities, sizes, shapes, and locations of reinforcing rods from blueprints, sketches, or oral instructions (about 3 h).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 8%
- 0%
- 92%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days 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, 6%. Today's estimate: 8%.
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.
Measured use over time
None of this job's 9 tasks showed up in the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled in any of its 7 releases, from February 2025 to May 2026.
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates 92% of this job's working time as physical work. For 92% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 92% in a purpose-built cell. 0.92 of 3, the 165th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 8%
- In a purpose-built cell 92%
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
The tasks
Sorted by . 9 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position and secure steel bars, rods, cables, or mesh in concrete forms, using fasteners, rod-bending machines, blowtorches, or hand tools.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, TOMOROBO (rebar tying robot) (KEN ROBOTECH) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 29% | 1.7 h25 min to 5 h | Stays with people | |
| Space and fasten together rods in forms according to blueprints, using wire and pliers.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, AWM 3D cage / mesh production plants (Schnell Group) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 16% | 1.3 h25 min to 5 h | Stays with people | |
| Bend steel rods with hand tools or rod-bending machines and weld them with arc-welding equipment.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Schnell Robomaster 45 automatic rebar bending machine (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 14% | 1.4 h25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Cut and fit wire mesh or fabric, using hooked rods, and position fabric or mesh in concrete to reinforce concrete.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, progress Maschinen & Automation M-System BlueMesh mesh welding plant integrated in pallet circulation plant (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 8% | 1.1 h17 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Determine quantities, sizes, shapes, and locations of reinforcing rods from blueprints, sketches, or oral instructions.Done daily by most who do it. | 8% | 38 min13 min to 2.5 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Cut rods to required lengths, using metal shears, hacksaws, bar cutters, or acetylene torches.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, MEP Syntax Line 28 / 32 automatic cutting and bending plant (M.E.P. Macchine Elettroniche Piegatrici S.p.A.) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 8% | 38 min8 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Unload rebar from trucks.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 7% | 50 min25 min to 2.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Use forklifts or cranes to move construction material, such as rebar.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 6% | 25 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Place blocks under rebar to hold the bars off the deck when reinforcing floors.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Mesh Spacer (Progress Maschinen & Automation / Progress Group) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 33 min13 min to 1.7 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.
- Structural Iron and Steel Workers3% now, 3% by 2028
- Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters4% now, 4% by 2028
- Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers5% now, 5% by 2028
- Cement Masons and Concrete Finishers0% now, 0% by 2028
- Brickmasons and Blockmasons8% now, 8% by 2028
- Sheet Metal Workers18% now, 18% 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).
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Reinforcing Iron and Rebar Workers is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 8% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 8% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five. Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Reinforcing Iron and Rebar Workers come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Determine quantities, sizes, shapes, and locations of reinforcing rods from blueprints, sketches, or oral instructions (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Reinforcing Iron and Rebar Workers stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Position and secure steel bars, rods, cables, or mesh in concrete forms, using fasteners, rod-bending machines, blowtorches, or hand tools; Space and fasten together rods in forms according to blueprints, using wire and pliers; and Bend steel rods with hand tools or rod-bending machines and weld them with arc-welding equipment. Together such tasks are about 92% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Reinforcing Iron and Rebar Workers?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026, no reportable share went to this job's tasks. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 0%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Reinforcing Iron and Rebar Workers?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 92% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 92% of the working time. Its index is 0.92 of 3. One example: TOMOROBO (rebar tying robot) for "position and secure steel bars, rods, cables, or mesh in concrete forms, using fasteners, rod-bending machines, blowtorches, or hand tools". A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 9 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, each classed as desk, people or body work, and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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