Production · Holland code RAC

Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers

Design, fabricate, adjust, repair, or appraise jewelry, gold, silver, other precious metals, or gems.

Also called: Bench Jeweler, Goldsmith, Jeweler, Silversmith, Appraiser, Artisan Jeweler, Caster, Gemologist.

O*NET 51-9071.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $52,540; Middle half earn $39,520 to $69,810. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED); 25% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 3 of 5; Medium preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
US employment outlook, 2024 to 2034: -5% · Decline; 35,100 jobs in 2024, projected 33,200. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, which groups this with similar roles as "Jewelers and precious stone and metal workers".

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

Clean and polish metal items and jewelry pieces, using jewelers' tools, polishing wheels, and chemical baths.
Smooth soldered joints and rough spots, using hand files and emery paper, and polish smoothed areas with polishing wheels or buffing wire.
Create jewelry from materials such as gold, silver, platinum, and precious or semiprecious stones.
Cut and file pieces of jewelry such as rings, brooches, bracelets, and lockets.
Examine assembled or finished products to ensure conformance to specifications, using magnifying glasses or precision measuring instruments.
Make repairs, such as enlarging or reducing ring sizes, soldering pieces of jewelry together, and replacing broken clasps and mountings.
Compute costs of labor and materials to determine production costs of products and articles.
Position stones and metal pieces, and set, mount, and secure items in place, using setting and hand tools.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Active Listening3.1 / 5
Speaking3.0 / 5
Critical Thinking3.0 / 5
Reading Comprehension2.8 / 5
Monitoring2.8 / 5
Writing2.5 / 5

Knowledge areas

Customer and Personal Service4.3 / 5
Design4.0 / 5
Production and Processing3.9 / 5
Sales and Marketing3.8 / 5
Administration and Management3.7 / 5
Mechanical3.4 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic93
Investigative27
Artistic45
Social1
Enterprising9
Conventional39

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

jewellery designer · DE Schmuckdesigner/Schmuckdesignerin · FR designer en bijouterie/designeuse en bijouterie
jeweller · DE Juwelier/Juwelierin · FR bijoutier/bijoutière
filigree maker · DE Filigranschmuckhersteller/Filigranschmuckherstellerin · FR créateur de bijoux en filigrane/créatrice de bijoux en filigrane
goldsmith · DE Goldschmied/Goldschmiedin · FR orfèvre
jewellery mounter · DE Schmuckhersteller/Schmuckherstellerin · FR créateur de montures de bijoux/créatrice de montures de bijoux
jewellery repairer · DE Schmuckreparateur/Schmuckreparateurin · FR réparateur de bijou/réparatrice de bijou

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Clothing, fashion and accessories designers (3422)18,300 employed
Assemblers and routine operatives n.e.c. (8149)26,300 employed
Design occupations n.e.c. (3429)39,100 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Craft and related trades workers”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Craft and related trades workers, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€40,086
Germany	€38,638
Austria	€38,194
Sweden	€37,856
Netherlands	€37,077
Ireland	€36,098
France	€27,145
Italy	€26,488
Spain	€22,817
Portugal	€11,142
Poland	€10,099

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the middle third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of -0.16. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (51-9071).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

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