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What They Do
About This Career
Designs, fabricates, adjusts, repairs, or appraises jewelry, gold, silver, other precious metals, or gems.
This career is part of the Manufacturing cluster Production pathway.
A person in this career:
- Smooths soldered joints and rough spots, using hand files and emery paper, and polishes smoothed areas with polishing wheels or buffing wire.
- Positions stones and metal pieces, and sets, mounts, and secures items in place, using setting and hand tools.
- Creates jewelry from materials such as gold, silver, platinum, and precious or semiprecious stones.
- Makes repairs, such as enlarging or reducing ring sizes, soldering pieces of jewelry together, and replacing broken clasps and mountings.
- Cleans and polishes metal items and jewelry pieces, using jewelers' tools, polishing wheels, and chemical baths.
- Cuts and files pieces of jewelry such as rings, brooches, bracelets, and lockets.
- Selects and acquires metals and gems for designs.
- Computes costs of labor and materials in order to determine production costs of products and articles.
- Examines assembled or finished products to ensure conformance to specifications, using magnifying glasses or precision measuring instruments.
- Pierces and cuts open designs in ornamentation, using hand drills and scroll saws.
Working Conditions and Physical Demands
People who do this job report that:
- You would often handle loads up to 10 lbs., sometimes up to 20 lbs. You might do a lot of walking or standing, or you might sit but use your arms and legs to control machines, equipment or tools.
- Work in this occupation involves use of protective items such as safety shoes, glasses, gloves, hearing protection, a hard hat, or personal flotation devices
- Exposure to pollutants, gases, dust, fumes, odors, poor ventilation, etc.
- Work in this occupation involves using your hands to hold, control, and feel objects more than one-third of the time
- Work in this occupation requires being inside most of the time
- Work in this occupation involves making repetitive motions more than one-third of the time
- Work in this occupation involves sitting more than one-third of the time
Working in this career involves (physical activities):
- Identifying color and seeing differences in color, including shades and brightness
- Seeing clearly up close
Work Hours and Travel
- Regular working hours and limited travel
Specialty and Similar Careers
Careers that are more detailed or close to this career:
- Artist
- Caster
- Goldsmith — Works with gold and other precious metals to create jewelry in their own design, as well as repair jewelry.
- Platinum Smith
- Restoration Silversmith
- Silversmith
- Bench Jeweler — Duties include stone setting; fabrication, refurbishing and repairs, sizing of rings, and metal polishing.
- Earrings Fabricator
- Gemologist
- Jeweler
Every year the U.S. Department of Labor conducts national surveys of wage data by occupation in every state and in all industry divisions. These surveys are conducted through the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program.
The statistics collected for one year are published the next fall. For example, 2013 wage information was published in the fall of 2014.
There are over 800 occupations in the surveys, and these occupations cover the entire U.S. labor market. The surveys ask for reports in a scale of ranges for both hourly wages and annual wages.
In many cases, these occupations are broad enough to cover many more detailed specialties of an occupation. A specific occupation may be included in a broader occupational category for which labor market data is available. When you look at the statistics for a broad category, be aware that the salary data for a specific career may differ.
For more details about how wage information is collected and calculated by the U.S. Department of Labor, visit their website at http://www.bls.gov/bls/blswage.htm.
Every year the U.S. Department of Labor conducts a national survey of over 400,000
employers in every state and in all industry divisions. This survey is conducted
through the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program. Every other year the
department publishes outlook information based on these surveys.
Each outlook period covers 10 years. For example, in 2003 the outlook information
was published for 2004-2014. Employers are asked to report the number of employees
in about 770 different occupations that cover the entire U.S. labor market.
From this information, staffing patterns for different industries are established.
Industry growth is projected into the future based on past trends and current economic
conditions. Industry staffing patterns are then applied to the industry projections
to obtain occupational projections.
In many cases, these occupations are broad enough to cover many more detailed specialties
of an occupation. A specific occupation may be included in a broader occupational
category for which labor market data is available. When you look at the statistics
for a broad category, be aware that the employment data for a specific field may
differ.
For more details about how employment information is collected and calculated by
the U.S. Department of Labor, visit their website at http://stats.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.
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