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Craft and related trades workers · code 7114

Concrete placers, concrete finishers and related workers

AI can design the mix. It can't finish the slab before it sets.

AI barely touches any of the five tasks, from building formwork and reinforced concrete to finishing the surface.

What they actually do (and what else they get called)

Concrete placers, concrete finishers and related workers erect reinforced concrete frameworks and structures, make forms for moulding concrete, reinforce concrete surfaces, cement openings in walls or casings for wells, finish and repair cement surfaces and carry out terrazzo work. Tasks include - (a) constructing and repairing reinforced concrete floors, walls, tanks, silos and other concrete structures; (b) making shuttering or assembling prefabricated forms for moulding concrete; (c) cementing openings in walls or casings for wells; (d) finishing and smoothing surfaces of concrete structures; (e) applying a durable smooth surfacing composed of cement, sand pigment and marble particles to floors, known as a terrazzo finish. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Cement finisher - Concrete placer - Terrazzo worker Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Concrete finishing machine operator - 8114 - Road surface laying machinery operator - 8342

  • terrazzo setter
  • concrete finisher

Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.

90 / 100

Strongly holds up against AI

Most of this job still needs an actual human. AI would mostly be making the tea.

Not the odds you keep your job. It's how much of the everyday work still needs a person, out of 100.

← Robot's turf Human's turf →

The ILO's official verdict: Not Exposed

15 of 427 for holding up against AI

Why this score?

The ILO rated each of this job's 5 tasks for how much of it AI could do. They average 10.4 out of 100, so it holds up at 100 − 10.4 = 89.6.

That's the whole sum. No black box, no secret sauce: you can check it against the ILO's study. ILO group “Not Exposed”: None of this job's tasks scored high enough to count.

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.8-observed-use

Pinch of salt: this number is probably too rosy

It only asks what AI software could do, and this job is 77 out of 100 hands-on. A chatbot can't do that part. A robot might, one day, and nobody measures how close that is.

Man v Bot · compare

Who holds up better?

Concrete placers, concrete finishers and related workers 90

v

Go on, try your partner's job. Or your sibling's. We won't tell.

Man v Bot

Where the bot helps, and where the human wins

Bot

What AI takes

The routine stuff. You may not miss it.

  • Calculating volumes and ordering pours.
  • Monitoring curing with sensors.
  • Site paperwork and quality records.

Man

What people still do better

Judgement, trust and skilled hands. Hard to download.

  • Building formwork that won't fail.
  • Finishing a surface in the short window before it sets.
  • Reading the weather and the mix on the day.

Both

What's arriving

New work that only exists because the AI does.

  • Working with lower-carbon concrete mixes.
  • Precast and 3D-printed concrete parts.
  • Sensor-based quality checks.

Written by a human, from the ILO's task ratings below. Yes, we see the irony. Read it as one person's take.

Meet your two rivals

They're not the same machine. AI software can only reach the parts of a job done on a screen or in words. A chatbot can't climb a ladder. A robot might, one day, if it doesn't fall off.

The AI

Lives in a screen. Never had to fix a boiler.

Threat level: Low

17 could do without you

It could take over very little of the work on its own. It could help with 45 of 100.

The robot

The wildcard. Has hands, still working out stairs.

How much it matters here: Higher

77 how hands-on

Most of this job needs hands, a body or turning up. That's robot territory, and nobody measures how far robots have got well enough to give you a number. We won't make one up.

So could a robot do the physical part?

More fine handwork, and more time in cramped or awkward spots, than a typical hands-on job. That is exactly what machines find hardest: they do best in tidy, predictable places.

Robots hate fiddly work in awkward spaces. On that measure, this job scores 41 out of 100. The higher it is, the longer the robot waits.

77 How
hands-on
41 How fiddly
and cramped

Kind of hands-on work Hands-on, fiddly work in tight spaces

The small print

They aren't a robot score, and nothing on this page is. Nobody measures how far robots have got well enough to put a number on it. These are the closest thing we have: how hands-on the job is, and how much fiddly, cramped work it takes, which is what Frey and Osborne found hardest for machines.

From O*NET, averaged across 3 US jobs .

finger skill 42.3 · hand skill 46.5 · cramped spaces 34.7 · averaged · rule: hands-on 50+ · fiddly 39.4+

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.8-observed-use measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

The job, task by task

Every job is really a bundle of tasks. Here's this one unpacked, with how much of each AI could do, out of 100. The score is the average, and averages can hide a lot.

AI's favourite task here scores 14, against an average of 10. The bigger the gap, the more lopsided the job: some of it wide open to AI, some of it barely touched.

  1. 14

    Making shuttering or assembling prefabricated forms for moulding concrete

    Very Low
  2. 12

    Constructing and repairing reinforced concrete floors, walls, tanks, silos and other concrete structures

    Very Low
  3. 9

    Finishing and smoothing surfaces of concrete structures

    Very Low
  4. 9

    Cementing openings in walls or casings for wells

    Very Low
  5. 8

    Applying a durable, smooth surfacing composed of cement, sand pigment and marble particles to floors, known as a terrazzo finish

    Very Low

5 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.8-observed-use

Sidekick or replacement?

A tool that makes you faster is a very different thing from one that does the task while you watch. Jobs and Skills Australia measured the two separately, which is handy.

AI helps you
45
AI does it for you
17

Sidekick wins, by 28 points.

How good a match is this?

2 Australian jobs match this one, and we've simply averaged them. Treat the numbers as a rough guide.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.8-observed-use matched to Australian jobs 3321, 8212

So, should concrete workers be worried?

Short answer: not really. Put the kettle on.

No. Building formwork, placing and finishing concrete all rate Very Low. Planning software and curing sensors help, but concrete work is timing, strength and skill on site.

Worth remembering: we score tasks, not jobs. When AI takes on a task, the job usually reshuffles around it rather than vanishing.

Where this job could lead

None of the new jobs we've written up start from here yet. Could be you're the first. See the jobs AI is creating →

How are the neighbours doing?

There are 65 jobs in the “Craft and related trades workers” family, averaging 83. This one is above the family average.

Pit this against any other job →