Job Check
Structural Iron and Steel Workers
Raise, place, and unite iron or steel girders, columns, and other structural members to form completed structures or structural frameworks. May erect metal storage tanks and assemble prefabricated metal buildings.
10 main tasks · most important first
Your main tasks and AI
Importance- 01Read specifications or blueprints to determine the locations, quantities, or sizes of materials required.People already use AI for this at work
- 02Verify vertical and horizontal alignment of structural steel members, using plumb bobs, laser equipment, transits, or levels.Mostly human for now
- 03Erect metal or precast concrete components for structures, such as buildings, bridges, dams, towers, storage tanks, fences, or highway guard rails.Mostly human for now
- 04Bolt aligned structural steel members in position for permanent riveting, bolting, or welding into place.Mostly human for now
- 05Assemble or inspect hoisting equipment or rigging, such as cables, pulleys, or hooks, to move heavy equipment or materials.No rating yet
- 06Lift steel beams, girders, or columns using cranes or forklifts, or by signaling hoisting equipment operators to lift or position structural steel members.No rating yet
- 07Fabricate metal parts, such as steel frames, columns, beams, or girders, according to blueprints or instructions from supervisors.Mostly human for now
- 08Connect columns, beams, and girders with bolts, following blueprints and instructions from supervisors.Mostly human for now
- 09Pull, push, or pry structural steel members into approximate positions for bolting into place.Mostly human for now
- 10Unload and position prefabricated steel units for hoisting, as needed.Mostly human for now
Tasks from O*NET® 31.0 (US Department of Labor, CC BY 4.0, changed by us), most important first. “Already use” comes from Anthropic’s data on real work chats with Claude; “could speed up” from task ratings made with GPT-4 in 2023.
Four studies, side by side
None is a forecast of job loss5%of this job’s work time goes to tasks that people already do with Claude at work, counting tasks where AI only helps as half (2026).Anthropic, 2026
3%of this job’s tasks an AI model could do in half the time, counting tasks that need extra tools as half (rated in 2023).Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin and Rock, 2023
Above 5% of jobsin how often and how well AI helped with this job’s work in Microsoft Copilot chats (2024 data).Microsoft Research (Tomlinson et al.), 2025
Above 83% of jobsin how much of this job’s physical work robots have been shown to do, from factories to homes (2026).Anthropic, 2026
Your human edge
The main tasks with no real AI use seen and no big speed-up expected. This is where your skill counts most today.
- Verify vertical and horizontal alignment of structural steel members, using plumb bobs, laser equipment, transits, or levels.
- Erect metal or precast concrete components for structures, such as buildings, bridges, dams, towers, storage tanks, fences, or highway guard rails.
- Bolt aligned structural steel members in position for permanent riveting, bolting, or welding into place.