The Datum Report

Occupation 8149 · Process, plant and machine operatives

Assemblers and routine operatives n.e.c.

Half of full-time assemblers and routine operatives n.e.c. in the UK earn more than £27,962 a year, and half earn less.

Job holders in this unit group perform assembly and routine operative tasks not elsewhere classified in minor group 814: Assemblers and routine operatives.

How people enter it

There are no formal academic entry requirements, though some employers may require GCSEs/S grades. Some employers may set dexterity and aptitude tests for entrants. Normal colour vision may be required for some posts. NVQs/SVQs at levels 1, 2 and 3 are available in a variety of areas.

What the work involves

• follows instructions and drawings and positions components on work bench or in assembly machine
• assembles prepared components in sequence by soldering, bolting, fastening, spot-welding, screwing, nailing, stapling, dipping and fastening using power and hand tools or assembly machine
• rejects faulty assembly components, inspects finished article for faults, monitors assembly machine operation and reports any faults
• applies enamel to jewellery and coats, lacquers, dips and touches up articles (other than ceramic)
• sets up and operates machines to apply colour to wallpaper and to coat articles (other than ceramic) with paint, cellulose or other protective/ decorative material
• performs miscellaneous painting and coating tasks not elsewhere classified including, staining articles, applying transfers, operating French polishing machines, removing surplus enamel from components and marking design outlines on articles

Also called

Assembler · Gluer (furniture mfr) · Paint line operator · Production assistant · Riveter (soft toy mfr)

What it pays

How pay has changed

Median gross annual pay for assemblers and routine operatives n.e.c., full-time employees, 2023 to 2025. Each point is that year's ASHE April snapshot as published — revisions are not backfilled into earlier years, and a year ONS withheld is a gap rather than a joined line.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Year-on-year change

The change from each year to the next, in per cent, computed from the figures in the chart above — so the two cannot disagree.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Pay by region

Median gross annual pay for full-time employees, ranked, against the UK figure. 11 of 11 regions are published: ONS withholds a cell where the survey sample cannot support it, and those are shown as gaps rather than dropped — an absent region is not a region without the work in it.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Period 2025. Table

Every regional figure

ONS does not publish occupational pay below region. Cells the survey could not support are shown as withheld, with its reason — adding a region split to a specific occupation leaves roughly a tenth of cells publishable.

Common questions

Classified alongside this

Assemblers (electrical and electronic products) · Assemblers (vehicles and metal goods) · Routine inspectors and testers · Sewing machinists · Tyre, exhaust and windscreen fitters · Weighers, graders and sorters