Other skilled trades n.e.c.
Job holders in this unit group engrave jewellery and stoneware, make artificial hairpieces, charge fireworks and munitions with explosive material, make lampshades, wickerwork, toys, dolls, models, candles, artificial flowers, other fancy goods, make patterns for moulds for metal castings, make and tune musical instruments, craft precious metals and stones, and perform other hand craft occupations not elsewhere classified in minor group 544: Other skilled trades.
- Employees (UK)
- 12k
- Median annual pay
- £26,800
- Exposure score ?
- 0.3/10 Minimal 4.3/10 Moderate strict reading, with tools is 4.3/10 with-tools reading, strict is 0.3/10
- Wage exposure
- £10m £138m
Higher exposure than 20% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means.
Most of this role's work is still hard for AI: physical presence, practised skill, judgement in context and direct care, the things that do not turn into text.
If you are in this role
Nothing here is under pressure today, but the frontier moves. Learn enough to direct AI at the paperwork around the job. People in hands-on roles who can do that become unusually useful inside their organisations.
A real share of the task list is within reach, especially drafting, summarising, research and analysis. People in this role who learn to direct AI well will pull ahead of those who do not.
If you are in this role
Treat AI like a capable junior you manage. Where you would hand a task to a junior with a clear brief, AI can do it now. Spend the time you get back on judgement and relationships.
Where the work usually starts.
This role's strict reading is low because its top tasks are judgement, not drafting. The three highest-stakes tasks below are still usually where the work starts. Switch to With tools to see what AI plus the right context can take on.
-
Clean and polish metal items and jewelry pieces, using jewelers' tools, polishing wheels, and chemical baths.
-
Smooth soldered joints and rough spots, using hand files and emery paper, and polish smoothed areas with polishing wheels or buffing wire.
-
Create jewelry from materials such as gold, silver, platinum, and precious or semiprecious stones.
These are the most important tasks AI can already handle when paired with the right tools and context. The first wins usually come from building workflows around them. That is the difference between a model that could do the job and one that actually does it inside your business.
-
Examine assembled or finished products to ensure conformance to specifications, using magnifying glasses or precision measuring instruments.
-
Compute costs of labor and materials to determine production costs of products and articles.
-
Grade stones based on their color, perfection, and quality of cut.
Every role has three or four places like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days.
Every task in the role.
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can do unaided and what still needs a person. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central each task is.
Tasks via O*NET "Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers" (51-9071.00).
What AI can already do
2 of 30 tasks, unaided
Compute costs of labor and materials to determine production costs of products and articles.
Write or modify design specifications such as the metal contents and weights of items.
What still needs a person
28 of 30 tasks
Clean and polish metal items and jewelry pieces, using jewelers' tools, polishing wheels, and chemical baths.
Smooth soldered joints and rough spots, using hand files and emery paper, and polish smoothed areas with polishing wheels or buffing wire.
Create jewelry from materials such as gold, silver, platinum, and precious or semiprecious stones.
Cut and file pieces of jewelry such as rings, brooches, bracelets, and lockets.
Examine assembled or finished products to ensure conformance to specifications, using magnifying glasses or precision measuring instruments.
Make repairs, such as enlarging or reducing ring sizes, soldering pieces of jewelry together, and replacing broken clasps and mountings.
Position stones and metal pieces, and set, mount, and secure items in place, using setting and hand tools.
Grade stones based on their color, perfection, and quality of cut.
Select and acquire metals and gems for designs.
Buy and sell jewelry, or serve as agents between buyers and sellers.
Shape and straighten damaged or twisted articles by hand or using pliers.
Determine appraised values of diamonds and other gemstones based on price guides, market fluctuations, and stone grades and rarity.
Create new jewelry designs and modify existing designs, using computers as necessary.
Plate articles such as jewelry pieces and watch dials, using silver, gold, nickel, or other metals.
Record the weights and processing times of finished pieces.
Construct preliminary models of wax, metal, clay, or plaster, and form sample castings in molds.
Soften metal to be used in designs by heating it with a gas torch and shape it, using hammers and dies.
Pierce and cut open designs in ornamentation, using hand drills and scroll saws.
Research and analyze reference materials, and consult with interested parties to develop new products or modify existing designs.
Mark, engrave, or emboss designs on metal pieces such as castings, wire, or jewelry, following specifications.
Lay out designs on metal stock, and cut along markings to fabricate pieces used to cast metal molds.
Design and fabricate molds, models, and machine accessories, and modify hand tools used to cast metal and jewelry pieces.
Pour molten metal alloys or other materials into molds to cast models of jewelry.
Cut designs in molds or other materials to be used as models in the fabrication of metal and jewelry products.
Rout out locations where parts are to be joined to items, using routing machines.
Weigh, mix, and melt metal alloys or materials needed for jewelry models.
Anneal precious metal objects such as coffeepots, tea sets, and trays in gas ovens for prescribed times to soften metal for reworking.
Rotate molds to distribute alloys and to prevent formation of air pockets.
Tasks via O*NET "Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers" (51-9071.00).
What AI can already do
8 of 30 tasks, with tools
Examine assembled or finished products to ensure conformance to specifications, using magnifying glasses or precision measuring instruments.
Compute costs of labor and materials to determine production costs of products and articles.
Grade stones based on their color, perfection, and quality of cut.
Buy and sell jewelry, or serve as agents between buyers and sellers.
Determine appraised values of diamonds and other gemstones based on price guides, market fluctuations, and stone grades and rarity.
Create new jewelry designs and modify existing designs, using computers as necessary.
Write or modify design specifications such as the metal contents and weights of items.
Research and analyze reference materials, and consult with interested parties to develop new products or modify existing designs.
What still needs a person
22 of 30 tasks
Clean and polish metal items and jewelry pieces, using jewelers' tools, polishing wheels, and chemical baths.
Smooth soldered joints and rough spots, using hand files and emery paper, and polish smoothed areas with polishing wheels or buffing wire.
Create jewelry from materials such as gold, silver, platinum, and precious or semiprecious stones.
Cut and file pieces of jewelry such as rings, brooches, bracelets, and lockets.
Make repairs, such as enlarging or reducing ring sizes, soldering pieces of jewelry together, and replacing broken clasps and mountings.
Position stones and metal pieces, and set, mount, and secure items in place, using setting and hand tools.
Select and acquire metals and gems for designs.
Shape and straighten damaged or twisted articles by hand or using pliers.
Plate articles such as jewelry pieces and watch dials, using silver, gold, nickel, or other metals.
Record the weights and processing times of finished pieces.
Construct preliminary models of wax, metal, clay, or plaster, and form sample castings in molds.
Soften metal to be used in designs by heating it with a gas torch and shape it, using hammers and dies.
Pierce and cut open designs in ornamentation, using hand drills and scroll saws.
Mark, engrave, or emboss designs on metal pieces such as castings, wire, or jewelry, following specifications.
Lay out designs on metal stock, and cut along markings to fabricate pieces used to cast metal molds.
Design and fabricate molds, models, and machine accessories, and modify hand tools used to cast metal and jewelry pieces.
Pour molten metal alloys or other materials into molds to cast models of jewelry.
Cut designs in molds or other materials to be used as models in the fabrication of metal and jewelry products.
Rout out locations where parts are to be joined to items, using routing machines.
Weigh, mix, and melt metal alloys or materials needed for jewelry models.
Anneal precious metal objects such as coffeepots, tea sets, and trays in gas ovens for prescribed times to soften metal for reworking.
Rotate molds to distribute alloys and to prevent formation of air pockets.
Stay on top of this.
An email when there is something worth reading: what is real in AI at work, what is noise, and what operators are doing about it.
Free. Unsubscribe any time.
Related occupations.
Other roles in Skilled trades occupations, and roles close by exposure.
What it means for your sector.
This role's score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 task labels, weighted by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 through ISCO-08 (the ONS coding index) and US SOC 2010 (the BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional, which covers employees only.
Back to the mapMethodologySources (PDF)Built 29 April 2026
Pictures
- "Census pantograph and 1930s keypunches" by U.S. Census Bureau employees, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Shepard Barclay, St. Louis lawyer, in his office" by Missouri Historical Society via DPLA, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Accountant's Office LCCN2016824374" by National Photo Company Collection, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Employment service in Oulu in the spring 1931" by Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons