Printing Press Operators

High Risk
73%

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Vote Comments (6)
AUTOMATION RISK
CALCULATED
78%
(High Risk)
POLLING
69%
(High Risk, Based on 75 votes)
Average: 73%
LABOR DEMAND
GROWTH
-9.5%
by year 2033
WAGES
$41,860
or $20.12 per hour
Volume
151,450
as of 2023
SUMMARY
What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
1.9/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

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Calculated automation risk

78% (High Risk)

High Risk (61-80%): Jobs in this category face a significant threat from automation, as many of their tasks can be easily automated using current or near-future technologies.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Some quite important qualities of the job are difficult to automate:

  • Manual Dexterity

  • Assisting and Caring for Others

  • Finger Dexterity

User poll

69% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted that it's probable this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 78% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Printing Press Operators will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

Growth

Very slow growth relative to other professions.

The number of 'Printing Press Operators' job openings is expected to decline 9.5% by 2033

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Wages

Very low paid relative to other professions

In 2023, the median annual wage for 'Printing Press Operators' was $41,860, or $20 per hour

'Printing Press Operators' were paid 12.9% lower than the national median wage, which stood at $48,060

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Volume

Greater range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2023 there were 151,450 people employed as 'Printing Press Operators' within the United States.

This represents around 0.10% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 1 thousand people are employed as 'Printing Press Operators'.

Job description

Set up and operate digital, letterpress, lithographic, flexographic, gravure, or other printing machines. Includes short-run offset printing presses.

SOC Code: 51-5112.00

Comments (6)

Leave a comment
AM (Low)
10 Sep 2025 16:52
First of all, when receiving documents from many source, it often has to be reconstructed, turned, reduced, quality improved. No 2 documents are equals. There is also the pleasing look of the final product. Will it serve its purpose, to what clientele it goes. There is a human eye needed for that.
Tejas Virani (Highly likely)
18 Sep 2023 00:30
Expensive wages
In-consistent performance
Limited work hours
High performance machine
Hoop Jones
27 Dec 2019 07:29
Already digital printing is being implemented on traditional printing presses. The press operators have to make a few clicks and maintain the digital printing head. Certainly within the next decade this will be the new standard.
Siligrapher (Low)
05 Jan 2022 05:00
Digital printing is a gimmick for sales. Low-quality prints that don't last. Quality prints are done with plastisol or waterbased. This isn't changing.
Flip
08 Oct 2025 12:57
As a press operator digital printing is only good for short run custom jobs. There's no digital press that can put out the quantity that roto or flexo can.
John A. (Moderate)
26 Jun 2019 01:57
As a printer I see various operations and systems being narrowed down to be run by a small team of maybe 1-4 people for one press that for the most part automatically does everything.
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