Career
Cutters and trimmers, hand
Cut and trim materials by hand.
$38,020
Median pay
-18.9%
Job growth, 2025–35
500
Openings a year
No formal educational credential
Typical education
None required
Typical time after high school
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- Mark or discard items with defects such as spots, stains, scars, snags, chips, scratches, or unacceptable shapes or finishes.
- Trim excess material or cut threads off finished products, such as cutting loose ends of plastic off a manufactured toy for a smoother finish.
- Cut, shape, and trim materials, such as textiles, food, glass, stone, and metal, using knives, scissors, and other hand tools, portable power tools, or bench-mounted tools.
- Position templates or measure materials to locate specified points of cuts or to obtain maximum yields, using rules, scales, or patterns.
- Read work orders to determine dimensions, cutting locations, and quantities to cut.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
The deeper question
What kind of person does this path ask you to become?
What this work centers on
O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.
The work
Do you want most of your days spent on objects & tools, then information & systems?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Mark or discard items with defects such as spots, stains, scars, snags, chips, scratches, or unacceptable shapes or finishes.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Active Listening, Time Management, Speaking, Judgment and Decision Making.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
No degree beyond high school, though short-term on-the-job training is typical, for a median of $38,020 a year and 500 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- NO MATCHCIP 99.9999
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders$46,570 · -0.9%
- Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand$42,660 · -19.2%
- Sewing Machine Operators$36,670 · -15.1%
- Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood$42,770 · -1.0%
- Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing$43,380 · -2.5%
Ask anything about this career.
“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.
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Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.