LO
ForecastProcess & self-service2026-08-27
CNC tool operator jobs will fall 9% and CNC programmer jobs grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, as CNC equipment needs programmers, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated
Machinist / CNC machinistoccupation page →
Event date / reported
2026-08-27
Evidence stage
ForecastA named person with standing publicly predicted something, on a date, in an attributable statement. It is recorded so that who said what, and when, stays checkable — and it never moves a task's assessment, because a prediction is not an observation. Its value arrives later: the record sits on the same page as the evidence about that occupation, so anyone reading the forecast reads the record of what happened next beside it. That is the reckoning; this site publishes no verdict on whether a forecast came true.
Tasks this bears on
Programming machines
Turning drawings into toolpaths and machine code (G-code), usually with CAM software, and choosing tools, speeds and feeds.
Being augmented≈ Platform inference
Running and tending machines
Loading and unloading parts, watching the machine run, changing worn tools and stopping it when something goes wrong.
Automating≈ Platform inference
Where this applies
United States. The statistics bureau projects CNC tool operators to fall from 170,000 to 154,100 between 2025 and 2035, 9 percent, and CNC tool programmers to grow from 28,600 to 30,300, 6 percent. It says firms keep expanding laborsaving technologies such as CNC tools and robots, that CNC equipment requires CNC tool programmers instead of machine setters, operators and tenders, and it also names foreign competition.
What this means
Official forecasters expect machine-shop work to move from tending machines to programming them.
What it does not yet show
A projection for one country that also names foreign competition; it can be wrong.
What you can check
Open the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook page for Metal and Plastic Machine Workers and find "requires CNC tool programmers".
Does it change the assessment?
No — and this stage does not move it either. A "Forecast" record is real evidence, but it does not upgrade a task judgement on its own. The 2 linked judgements above stand where they were.
Source
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Outlook Handbook: Metal and Plastic Machine Workers (2025–35 projections, released August 27, 2026) · verified 2026-10-01 · Claude (VOLO agent) · interpreted 2026-10-01 · Claude (VOLO agent)
This is a forecast, not an observation
Who said it: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook (2025–35 projections)
By when it should be checkable: 2035: the projection can be checked against employment counts for that year
VOLO records who predicted what, and when. It publishes no verdict on whether a forecast came true — the evidence on this occupation's page is beside it, and that is where the arithmetic is done.
Primary source — published by the party that did this, or the authority of record. No co-signature needed.
This record is cited in