Production
Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers
Inspect, test, sort, sample, or weigh nonagricultural raw materials or processed, machined, fabricated, or assembled parts or products for defects, wear, and deviations from specifications. May use precision measuring instruments and complex test equipment.
MAY 2025 · OCCUPATIONAL WAGES
A wage reference for United States.
Published wage percentiles describe a distribution within the source occupation group. They provide context for a career decision; employer packages and job offers have their own terms.
Source wage group: Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers
This wage group may include multiple detailed occupations. The figures are for the source group, which may be broader than Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers. They are not an exact-title, employer, experience or seniority match.
May 2025 · USD · United States. Annual and hourly figures are shown only when the source publishes them; neither is calculated from the other.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage data, distributed through the O*NET® OnLine service.
Median annual wage$48,570USD per year · Published 50th percentile
Median hourly wage$23.35USD per hour · Published 50th percentile
Annual wage thresholds
USD per year
Hourly wage thresholds
USD per hour
| Percentile | Annual wage (USD/year) | Hourly wage (USD/hour) |
|---|---|---|
| 10th | $35,510 | $17.07 |
| 25th | $39,890 | $19.18 |
| 50th · Median | $48,570 | $23.35 |
| 75th | $61,440 | $29.54 |
| 90th | $77,860 | $37.44 |
“≥” means at least the published amount; “≤” means at most that amount. These are bounds, not exact values. “Not published” means the source did not provide that figure. Occupational wages follow the source definition and do not establish an employer’s base salary, equity or total compensation.
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THE WORK BEHIND THE TITLE
What this career involves.
Occupation definitions describe common work. Responsibilities and requirements vary by employer and specific job.
Selected title examples
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Typical tasks
- Discard or reject products, materials, or equipment not meeting specifications.
- Mark items with details, such as grade or acceptance-rejection status.
- Measure dimensions of products to verify conformance to specifications, using measuring instruments, such as rulers, calipers, gauges, or micrometers.
- Notify supervisors or other personnel of production problems.
- Inspect, test, or measure materials, products, installations, or work for conformance to specifications.
- Write test or inspection reports describing results, recommendations, or needed repairs.
Expand more tasks (25)
- Recommend necessary corrective actions, based on inspection results.
- Read dials or meters to verify that equipment is functioning at specified levels.
- Make minor adjustments to equipment, such as turning setscrews to calibrate instruments to required tolerances.
- Read blueprints, data, manuals, or other materials to determine specifications, inspection and testing procedures, adjustment methods, certification processes, formulas, or measuring instruments required.
- Monitor production operations or equipment to ensure conformance to specifications, making necessary process or assembly adjustments.
- Record inspection or test data, such as weights, temperatures, grades, or moisture content, and quantities inspected or graded.
- Position products, components, or parts for testing.
- Remove defects, such as chips, burrs, or lap corroded or pitted surfaces.
- Collect or select samples for testing or for use as models.
- Stack or arrange tested products for further processing, shipping, or packaging.
- Check arriving materials to ensure that they match purchase orders, submitting discrepancy reports as necessary.
- Inspect or test raw materials, parts, or products to determine compliance with environmental standards.
- Analyze test data, making computations as necessary, to determine test results.
- Compare colors, shapes, textures, or grades of products or materials with color charts, templates, or samples to verify conformance to standards.
- Clean, maintain, calibrate, or repair measuring instruments or test equipment, such as dial indicators, fixed gauges, or height gauges.
- Fabricate, install, position, or connect components, parts, finished products, or instruments for testing or operational purposes.
- Administer tests to assess whether engineers or operators are qualified to use equipment.
- Monitor machines that automatically measure, sort, or inspect products.
- Interpret legal requirements, provide safety information, or recommend compliance procedures to contractors, craft workers, engineers, or property owners.
- Adjust, clean, or repair products or processing equipment to correct defects found during inspections.
- Compute usable amounts of items in shipments.
- Grade, classify, or sort products according to sizes, weights, colors, or other specifications.
- Disassemble defective parts or components, such as inaccurate or worn gauges or measuring instruments.
- Compute defect percentages or averages, using formulas and calculators.
- Weigh materials, products, containers, or samples to verify packaging weights or ingredient quantities.
Skills used in this work
- Quality Control Analysis
- Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
Expand more skills (29)
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Operation and Control
- Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Mathematics
- Using mathematics to solve problems.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Service Orientation
- Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Persuasion
- Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Troubleshooting
- Determining causes of operating errors and deciding what to do about it.
- Management of Personnel Resources
- Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
- Negotiation
- Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
- Systems Analysis
- Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
- Systems Evaluation
- Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Equipment Selection
- Determining the kind of tools and equipment needed to do a job.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
- Learning Strategies
- Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Operations Analysis
- Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
- Management of Material Resources
- Obtaining and seeing to the appropriate use of equipment, facilities, and materials needed to do certain work.
- Equipment Maintenance
- Performing routine maintenance on equipment and determining when and what kind of maintenance is needed.
- Management of Financial Resources
- Determining how money will be spent to get the work done, and accounting for these expenditures.
- Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the needed tools.
- Science
- Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.
- Technology Design
- Generating or adapting equipment and technology to serve user needs.
- Programming
- Writing computer programs for various purposes.
- Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or programs to meet specifications.
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