OverviewSalaryAboutEducationWhere are the jobsEmploymentGenderRace/Origin
Overview
Perform precision smoothing, sharpening, polishing, or grinding of metal objects.
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Titles for this career often contain these words
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Salary
Median salary: $41,060 annually
Half of those employed in this career earn between $33,430 and $52,530.
Context: Median Salary
How do salaries for this career compare to other jobs' salaries?
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Salary growth for specialized metal workers and plastic workers
Is this job likely to reward you for sticking with it through pay raises and promotions? The higher a job’s “experience quotient,” the more you are likely to get as you stay there.
Experience quotient percentile
Take a minute to look at how much you might expect your salary to increase with each five years' experience, as well as how the numbers working at each age change. Does this seem to be a job for the young or the old, or could it be a career offering steady salary growth for many years?
Salary distribution
Number employed
About Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners
How do benefits for this career compare to other jobs? The availability of health care, especially employer provided health care, and pension plans can add significantly to the value of compensation you receive in a career. These charts compare how this career compares to other careers with regard to health care and pension plans.
Employee has health insurance
Employer is providing health insurance
Employer-provided pension plan is available
Worker concerns
Some jobs are more stressful than others, and some are just plain dangerous. The following list gives the percentages of tool grinders, filers, and sharpeners who report hazardous or difficult situations typically occurring at least once a week.
- Exposed to Contaminants (76%)
- Time Pressure (74%)
- Responsible for Others' Health (73%)
- Hazardous Equipment (67%)
- Minor Burns, Cuts, Bites (66%)
- Consequence of Error (34%)
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Injury and Illness
About 60 tool grinders, filers, and sharpeners become injured or ill for every 10,000 workers, making this job more dangerous than 70% of other careers.
All injuries and illnesses
Education pathways to this career
Education attained by tool grinders, filers, and sharpeners
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), tool grinders, filers, and sharpeners typically hold a high school diploma or equivalent.
Sometimes the typical education identified by the BLS differs a bit from the reality of the how much education current workers actually have. The donut shows the education level held by people currently working as specialized metal workers and plastic workers as reported in responses to the American Community Survey.
Education level of Specialized Metal Workers and Plastic Workers
Only 5% of specialized metal workers and plastic workers have a bachelor's degree or higher.
Education attained by specialized metal workers and plastic workers
None
High School
Some College
Associate's Degree
Bachelor's Degree
Master's Degree
Professional Degree
Doctorate
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Programs recommended by the Department of Education
The Department of Education recommends the following college degree programs as preparation for this career. You can click the program row to learn more about the program and explore a list of schools that offer the program.
Number of degrees awarded in 2018
Education
Education level of awarded degrees
Assoc./Cert.
Bachelor's
Graduate
Gender
Gender of graduates
Men
Women
Race/Origin
Race/origin of graduates
White
Minority
International
Where are the jobs
State-by-state employment numbers
Some careers tend to be centered in specific parts of the country. For example, most jobs in fashion are in New York or California. Let's see if your dream job is easy to find in your dream location! We have a few choices for viewing the data that can help you get a full employment picture.
Select a state to see local area details
Number of Specialized Metal Workers and Plastic Workers per 1,000 workers (ACS)
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Job density versus job count
Which states hire the most tool grinders, filers, and sharpeners? We wonder if that's a fair question since states come in all sizes, so instead let's start with the question of which states have the highest density of people working as tool grinders, filers, and sharpeners. You can choose to view the number of jobs per state if you prefer.
Salaries by state
Let's get a feel for where tool grinders, filers, and sharpeners earn the highest salaries. There are several choices for which data we consider and how we view that data, and each can lead to different conclusions, so please read on...
Median salary versus state ratio
We use two methods to compare salaries across states:
- In-state comparisons: the ratio of median (middle) salaries for specialized metal workers and plastic workers compared to the median salary for all people working in each state, or
- Median salary: the unaltered median salaries for specialized metal workers and plastic workers.
The darkest shading corresponds to states in which specialized metal workers and plastic workers earn the highest salary when compared to other jobs in the state. We think this figure might be a better indicator than the actual salary for your buying power as a state resident.
Select a state to see local area details
Location-adjusted median salary for Specialized Metal Workers and Plastic Workers (ACS for all specialties)
Employment
3% of Specialized metal workers and plastic workers are working part time.
We’ve found that some jobs have a huge number of part-time workers, and typically that is because they are unable to find full-time work or the job itself can’t provide full-time hours. With 3% part-time workers, this occupation has a lower percentage of part-time workers than 89% of careers.
Employer types
This donut shares the break-down of workers by employer type, giving us a picture of what employers most typically hire for this career.
Employers of undefined (ACS)
Private for-profit
Private not-for-profit
Local government
State government
Federal government
Self-employed incorporated
Self-employed not incorporated
Working without pay
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Distribution: Salaries of specialized metal workers and plastic workers by type of employer
Here are the salary distributions based on employer type.
Gender
Specialized metal workers and plastic workers and gender
With 21% women, this occupation has a lower percentage of women than 64% of careers.
Gender of Specialized metal workers and plastic workers
Men (79%)
Women (21%)
Distribution: salaries by gender
Does gender greatly influence your salary in this career? The closer the bars are, the less discrepancy there is.
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
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Context: Women in the workforce
How does this career compare to other careers with regard to the percentage of women in the career.
Context: Salary inequity
The median (middle) salary for all full-time male workers
in the US exceeds the full-time median salary for women
by 19%, and the difference
for specialized metal workers and plastic workers tops that, with the median salary for
men 35% higher than the median
salary for women.
Race/Origin
Race and origin of Specialized metal workers and plastic workers
This donut shows the distribution of race and origin among those employed as Specialized metal workers and plastic workers.
Race/origin of specialized metal workers and plastic workers
White (67% )
Black (14% )
Other (8% )
Asian (7% )
Multiracial (2% )
Hispanic (1% )
American Indian (1% )
Pacific Islander (0% )
Distribution: salaries by race/origin
Some careers might have a pay disparity based on race or origin, the closer the below bars are the less of a discrepancy is present.
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
