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Craft and related trades workers · code 7322

Printers

Printers set up and operate digital, letterpress, lithographic, flexographic, gravure, newspaper and other printing presses. Tasks include - (a) setting, adjusting and monitoring substrate-feed mechanisms, delivery mechanisms, inking systems and other printing machine functions; (b) mixing ink and solvents to standard, and regulating paper and ink supply during print runs; (c) monitoring, evaluating and determining press to check print quality standards against proofs and detect malfunctions; (d) producing a variety of printed products using digital, relief, lithographic, flexographic and gravure printing presses, and in-line finishing systems; (e) preparing plates, blankets and impression cylinders on small offset lithographic printing presses; (f) loading paper into feeding mechanisms; (g) monitoring machine operations and quality of printing; (h) maintaining, adjusting, repairing and cleaning machines; (i) producing digital print images, and transferring and outputting images. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Block printer - Digital press operator - Feeder operator (printing) - Flexographic press operator - Gravure press operator - Large sheet-fed press operator - Screen printer - Screen printing press operator - Small press operator - Textile printer - Web press operator

None of this job's tasks scored high enough to count. It ranks 198 of 427 for holding up against AI.

Also known as

  • digital printer
  • screen printer
  • offset printer
  • reprographics technician
  • textile printer
  • paper embosing press operator
  • printing textile technician
  • hot foil operator
  • gravure press operator
  • flexographic press operator

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

75.1
Holds up
against AI Not Exposed

AI could take on 24.9 of 100, on average
so it holds up at 100 − 24.9 = 75.1

That's the whole sum, and you can check it against the ILO's study.

74.9
How hands-on
out of 100

From O*NET, matched to one US job

44.9
How fiddly
and cramped

finger skill 50 · hand skill 44.6 · cramped spaces 40 · averaged

Kind of hands-on work · hands-on 50+ · fiddly 39.4+ Hands-on, fiddly work in tight spaces

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.

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 0.7-work-setting measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

This number is probably too high

This score only looks at AI tools like chatbots. It doesn't look at robots at all — and this job rates 74.9 out of 100 for how hands-on it is, which is exactly where robots come in.

Have a look at the tasks below and judge for yourself. The ILO scored them low because a chatbot can't do them. Whether a machine with hands could is a different question, and we can't answer it yet.

The tasks behind the score

The score is the average of these. A job is really a bundle of tasks, and an average can hide how uneven that bundle is.

The task AI could do most of scores 41.5, while the average is 24.9. A big gap means some of this job is wide open to AI and some of it barely at all. That's quite different from a job where everything sits somewhere in the middle, even when the averages match.

  1. 41.5

    Producing digital print images, and transferring and outputting images.

    Low
  2. 34.5

    Monitoring, evaluating and determining press to check print quality standards against proofs and detect malfunctions

    Low
  3. 31

    Monitoring machine operations and quality of printing

    Low
  4. 27

    Setting, adjusting and monitoring substrate-feed mechanisms, delivery mechanisms, inking systems and other printing machine functions

    Low
  5. 26.5

    Mixing ink and solvents to standard, and regulating paper and ink supply during print runs

    Low
  6. 26

    Producing a variety of printed products using relief, lithographic, flexographic and gravure printing presses, and in-line finishing systems

    Low
  7. 15

    Preparing plates, blankets and impression cylinders on small offset lithographic printing presses

    Very Low
  8. 15

    Maintaining, adjusting, repairing and cleaning machines

    Very Low
  9. 8

    Loading paper into feeding mechanisms

    Very Low

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

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.7-work-setting

Helped, or replaced?

The score above can't tell a tool that makes you faster from one that does the task instead of you. Jobs and Skills Australia looked at those two things separately, and this is their result, matched to this job.

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

AI helps you
56
AI does it for you
26.5

Helping wins by 29.5 points.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.7-work-setting matched to Australian jobs 3921, 3923

Compared with similar jobs

There are 65 jobs in the “Craft and related trades workers” group, averaging 83.6. This one is below that.