Occupations · Production
Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing
Set up, operate, or tend woodworking machines, such as drill presses, lathes, shapers, routers, sanders, planers, and wood nailing machines. May operate computer numerically controlled (CNC) equipment.
O*NET 30.3 Database (USDOL/ETA) · occupation code 51-7042.00
What it pays
A single “average salary” hides the spread. This is the whole distribution — the gap between the bottom and top bar is usually the number that matters.
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2024 · national, cross-industry · annual wage
Pay over time
Median up 81% between 2003 and 2024, before inflation. The band shows the 10th to 90th percentile.
BLS OEWS, one release per year. Before May 2011 only national estimates were published, so geography detail starts there.
Where the jobs are
| Metro area | Median wage | Employed |
|---|---|---|
| Grand Rapids-Wyoming, MI | $47,540 | 2,830 |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA | $44,350 | 1,210 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | $41,570 | 950 |
| Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA | $36,820 | 940 |
| Elkhart-Goshen, IN | $44,880 | 880 |
| Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC | $38,240 | 830 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | $37,290 | 810 |
| Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC | $40,400 | 800 |
| Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI | $45,350 | 790 |
| Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | $46,960 | 570 |
| Greensboro-High Point, NC | $36,670 | 530 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA | $45,230 | 530 |
BLS OEWS May 2024, metropolitan estimates · the 12 areas with the most people in this occupation
Typical education to enter: High school diploma or equivalent · BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
What people in this job actually do
Ordered by how important the work is rated.
- Set up, program, operate, or tend computerized or manual woodworking machines, such as drill presses, lathes, shapers, routers, sanders, planers, or wood-nailing machines.
- Examine finished workpieces for smoothness, shape, angle, depth-of-cut, or conformity to specifications and verify dimensions, visually and using hands, rules, calipers, templates, or gauges.
- Start machines, adjust controls, and make trial cuts to ensure that machinery is operating properly.
- Monitor operation of machines and make adjustments to correct problems and ensure conformance to specifications.
- Examine raw woodstock for defects and to ensure conformity to size and other specification standards.
- Adjust machine tables or cutting devices and set controls on machines to produce specified cuts or operations.
- Install and adjust blades, cutterheads, boring-bits, or sanding-belts, using hand tools and rules.
- Change alignment and adjustment of sanding, cutting, or boring machine guides to prevent defects in finished products, using hand tools.
- Determine product specifications and materials, work methods, and machine setup requirements, according to blueprints, oral or written instructions, drawings, or work orders.
- Feed stock through feed mechanisms or conveyors into planing, shaping, boring, mortising, or sanding machines to produce desired components.
- Push or hold workpieces against, under, or through cutting, boring, or shaping mechanisms.
- Select knives, saws, blades, cutter heads, cams, bits, or belts, according to workpiece, machine functions, or product specifications.
O*NET 30.3 task ratings, importance scale
Skills that matter most
Importance, rated 1 to 5.
O*NET 30.3 skills, importance scale
Software and tools
A dot marks what O*NET flags as in demand.
O*NET 30.3 software skills · hot-technology flag
What this work is actually like
Conditions rated against the average across all occupations — only what makes this job different is listed.
O*NET 30.3 Job Zones
Working conditions that stand out
O*NET 30.3 work context, frequency scale · observed 2015-07
How people actually get in
Share of workers by the education they hold.
O*NET 30.2 education, training and experience · observed 2015-07
What kind of person the work suits
Occupational interest profile, rated 1 to 7.
O*NET 30.2 occupational interests (RIASEC)
What you take with you
Skills rated for how well they transfer into other occupations.
O*NET 30.3 transferable skills, importance scale
Knowledge the work draws on
Abilities it leans on
O*NET 30.3 abilities and knowledge, importance scale
How this job is advertised
The same work is posted under many titles — this is what to search for.
O*NET 30.3 job titles reported for this occupation
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What changed since 2015
Comparing O*NET release 20.1 (2015-10-01) with 30.3 (2026-05-01). Signs, not colour alone, carry the meaning.
Now listed 18
Diff across the O*NET releases held here in full since October 2015, following occupations through merges and retirements. O*NET re-surveys occupations on a rolling cycle, so “no change” can also mean “not re-surveyed”.
Related jobs
O*NET 30.3 related occupations
Also called
O*NET 30.3 alternative titles
The same work in Europe
| ESCO occupation | ISCO | Match |
|---|---|---|
| chipper operator | 8172.1 | broader |
| planer thicknesser operator | 8172.5.2 | broader |
| nailing machine operator | 7523.1 | broader |
| wood boring machine operator | 7523.2 | broader |
| wood router operator | 8172.5.5 | broader |
| wooden furniture machine operator | 7523.3 | broader |
| engineered wood board machine operator | 8172.4 | broader |
| woodturner | 7523.6 | broader |
| wood pallet maker | 7523.4 | broader |
| wood treater | 7521.2 | broader |
Official ESCO ↔ O*NET crosswalk (ESCO Secretariat with USDOL/ETA)
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