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Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders
Production · SOC 51-3091
0.0% AI Exposure — Low
$44,810
Median Annual Salary
Average
O*NET Outlook
2,900
Proj. Annual Openings
20,370
Employment (OEWS 2025)
-0.4%/yr
Empl. growth (2019–2025)
100/100
AI Resiliency Score
AI exposure from the Anthropic Economic Index (2025); salary from BLS; skills from O*NET. See /sources.
Decision card
Career Evidence Passport
SOC 51-3091 evidence across exposure, wages, projections, postings, certified LCAs, skills, and transitions.
Proxy / seed data labeledDescriptive-only
- SOC exposure
- 0.0%
- Low · Anthropic AEI
- Automation friction
- 51/100
- Moderate friction; broad SOC seed ORS job-requirements coverage.
- Wages
- $44,810
- No H-1B offered-wage row for this SOC.
- Projected openings
- 2,900
- BLS EP 2024–2034; employment change +0.6%.
- Observed/proxy demand
- —
- FY— certified LCAs; 3,282 postings in 2025.
Skill evidence
Operations MonitoringMonitoringReading ComprehensionActive ListeningCritical Thinking
Transition context
- H-1B values are certified Labor Condition Applications, not visa approvals.
- Job postings are seed-static / seed-derived; treat as provider-ready proxy coverage until observed provider data is wired in.
- Transition matches are directional skill-overlap context, not placement guarantees.
- This release is a FutureGrid broad-SOC seed derived from public BLS ORS requirement concepts and categories, not direct occupation-level ORS survey estimates. It describes job requirements, not worker ability, AI capability, or displacement probability. Automation friction is a FutureGrid derived score and should be read alongside exposure, demand, wage, and projection signals.
AI Exposure Analysis
AI Exposure0.0%
AI Resiliency100/100
Exposure BandLow
Sector Avg. Exposure0.7%
Across AI measures
Multiple exposure lenses for this occupation.
17.4%
Consensus
Actual adoption · Anthropic0%
AI capability · OpenAI6.7%
AI ability · AIOE45.5%
Automation baseline (2013) · Frey & Osborne91%
Top Skills
1.Operations Monitoring
2.Monitoring
3.Reading Comprehension
4.Active Listening
5.Critical Thinking
H-1B Visa Sponsorship Demand
View full H-1B trends →No H-1B certified LCA filings recorded for this occupation in FY2016–FY2025.
O*NET occupation profile
What this work involves
Operate or tend food or tobacco roasting, baking, or drying equipment, including hearth ovens, kiln driers, roasters, char kilns, and vacuum drying equipment.
Common titles: Bean Roaster, Coffee Roaster, Line Operator, Machine Operator, Oven Operator, Oven Technician
Representative Tasks
- •Observe, feel, taste, or otherwise examine products during and after processing to ensure conformance to standards.
- •Set temperature and time controls, light ovens, burners, driers, or roasters, and start equipment, such as conveyors, cylinders, blowers, driers, or pumps.
- •Observe temperature, humidity, pressure gauges, and product samples and adjust controls, such as thermostats and valves, to maintain prescribed operating conditions for specific stages.
- •Observe flow of materials and listen for machine malfunctions, such as jamming or spillage, and notify supervisors if corrective actions fail.
- •Record production data, such as weight and amount of product processed, type of product, and time and temperature of processing.
Detailed Work Activities
- •Inspect food products.
- •Evaluate quality of food ingredients or prepared foods.
- •Collect samples of materials or products for testing.
- •Adjust temperature controls of ovens or other heating equipment.
- •Operate pumping systems or equipment.
Tools & Technologies
Microsoft Excel · hotEmail software
Employment Projections & AI Exposure
15
Occupations Shown
0.5%
Avg AI Exposure
1
Bright Outlook
Horizontal bar chart showing occupations with the highest projected annual openings. Each bar length represents annual projected openings. Color uses a gradient from violet (lower) to cyan (higher). Summary statistics are shown above the chart.
Employment & Wage Trend
BLS OEWS, 2019–2025
Multi-year BLS OEWS history for SOC 51-3091: 2019 — employment: 20,830, median wage: $31,590; 2020 — employment: 19,010, median wage: $32,480; 2021 — employment: 21,050, median wage: $35,480; 2022 — employment: 20,010, median wage: $37,790; 2023 — employment: 19,570, median wage: $39,850; 2025 — employment: 20,370, median wage: $44,810.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). See /sources.
Sector Comparison
| Metric | This Career | Sector Average |
|---|---|---|
| AI Exposure | 0.0% | 0.7% |
| Outlook | Average | 4% Bright |
| Median Salary | $44,810 | N/A |
| AI Resiliency | 100/100 | N/A |