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Furniture Finishers
Production · SOC 51-7021
0.0% AI Exposure — Low
$44,540
Median Annual Salary
Average
O*NET Outlook
2,400
Proj. Annual Openings
14,480
Employment (OEWS 2025)
-1.9%/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 51-7021 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
- 48/100
- Moderate friction; broad SOC seed ORS job-requirements coverage.
- Wages
- $44,540
- No H-1B offered-wage row for this SOC.
- Projected openings
- 2,400
- BLS EP 2024–2034; employment change -3.3%.
- Observed/proxy demand
- —
- FY— certified LCAs; 2,643 postings in 2025.
Skill evidence
Active ListeningCritical ThinkingMonitoringSpeakingOperations Monitoring
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.
12.7%
Consensus
Actual adoption · Anthropic0%
AI capability · OpenAI2.9%
AI ability · AIOE35.1%
Automation baseline (2013) · Frey & Osborne87%
Top Skills
1.Active Listening
2.Critical Thinking
3.Monitoring
4.Speaking
5.Operations Monitoring
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
Shape, finish, and refinish damaged, worn, or used furniture or new high-grade furniture to specified color or finish.
Common titles: Finish Repair Worker, Finisher, Furniture Finisher, Hand Sander, Lacquer Sprayer, Sander
Representative Tasks
- •Brush, spray, or hand-rub finishing ingredients, such as paint, oil, stain, or wax, onto and into wood grain and apply lacquer or other sealers.
- •Fill and smooth cracks or depressions, remove marks and imperfections, and repair broken parts, using plastic or wood putty, glue, nails, or screws.
- •Smooth, shape, and touch up surfaces to prepare them for finishing, using sandpaper, pumice stones, steel wool, chisels, sanders, or grinders.
- •Remove accessories prior to finishing, and mask areas that should not be exposed to finishing processes or substances.
- •Remove old finishes and damaged or deteriorated parts, using hand tools, stripping tools, sandpaper, steel wool, abrasives, solvents, or dip baths.
Detailed Work Activities
- •Confer with customers or designers to determine order specifications.
- •Apply protective or decorative finishes to workpieces or products.
- •Repair furniture or upholstery.
- •Fill cracks, imperfections, or holes in products or workpieces.
- •Shape surfaces or edges of wood workpieces.
Tools & Technologies
Intuit QuickBooks · hotMicrosoft Office software · hotDuPont ColorNetDuPont Spies Hecker WizardWeb browser 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 51-7021: 2019 — employment: 16,220, median wage: $32,480; 2020 — employment: 15,590, median wage: $32,970; 2021 — employment: 16,300, median wage: $36,580; 2022 — employment: 14,990, median wage: $37,960; 2023 — employment: 14,380, median wage: $39,790; 2025 — employment: 14,480, median wage: $44,540.
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 | $44,540 | N/A |
| AI Resiliency | 100/100 | N/A |