Painting, Coating, and Decorating Workers
Paint, coat, or decorate articles, such as furniture, glass, plateware, pottery, jewelry, toys, books, or leather.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Monitoring
- Social Perceptiveness
- Coordination
- Reading Comprehension
- Speaking
- Critical Thinking
- Time Management
Key knowledge
- Production and Processing
- English Language
- Customer and Personal Service
- Education and Training
- Design
- Chemistry
- Administration and Management
- Public Safety and Security
What the work involves
- Apply coatings, such as paint, ink, or lacquer, to protect or decorate workpiece surfaces, using spray guns, pens, or brushes.
- Examine finished surfaces of workpieces to verify conformance to specifications and retouch any defective areas.
- Clean and maintain tools and equipment, using solvents, brushes, and rags.
- Read job orders and inspect workpieces to determine work procedures and materials required.
- Clean surfaces of workpieces in preparation for coating, using cleaning fluids, solvents, brushes, scrapers, steam, sandpaper, or cloth.
- Rinse, drain, or wipe coated workpieces to remove excess coating material or to facilitate setting of finish coats on workpieces.
- Place coated workpieces in ovens or dryers for specified times to dry or harden finishes.
- Select and mix ingredients to prepare coating substances according to specifications, using paddles or mechanical mixers.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Artistic, Conventional.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Less than a High School Diploma (59% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (45.9%)
- On-the-job training
- Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month (41%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Painting, Coating, and Decorating Workers is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very low | Lower on contact with others than 86% of occupations compared | 36% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Moderate | Lower on dealing with the public than 58% of occupations compared | — |
| Teamwork | Low | Lower on teamwork than 74% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “Very important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 83% of occupations compared | — |
| Time pressure | Very low | Lower on time pressure than 96% of occupations compared | — |
| Conflict situations | Very low | Lower on conflict situations than 94% of occupations compared | 47% of surveyed respondents chose “Never” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very low | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 89% of occupations compared | 45% of surveyed respondents chose “Never” |
| Consequence of error | Very low | Lower on consequence of error than 96% of occupations compared | 65% of surveyed respondents chose “Not serious at all” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very low
- Conflict situations: very low
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very low
- Consequence of error: very low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 2.25%
- Occasional contact with others: 19.6%
- Contact with others about half the time: 13.44%
- Contact with others most of the time: 28.22%
- Constant contact with others: 36.48%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2019
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 31.59%
- Fairly important: 4.51%
- Important: 19.79%
- Very important: 0%
- Extremely important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2019
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 2.79%
- Fairly important: 13.44%
- Important: 6.38%
- Very important: 41.16%
- Extremely important: 36.24%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2019
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 3.59%
- Very little freedom: 14.55%
- Limited freedom: 28.63%
- Some freedom: 19.66%
- A lot of freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2019
Time pressure
- Never: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a year or more but not every month: 2.25%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 2.79%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 32.13%
- Every day: 20.36%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2019
Conflict situations
- Never: 47.29%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 21.16%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 14.55%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 15.9%
- Every day: 1.11%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2019
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 45.03%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 18.48%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 19.48%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 15.9%
- Every day: 1.11%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2019
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 64.58%
- Fairly serious: 2.45%
- Serious: 19.3%
- Very serious: 12.57%
- Extremely serious: 1.11%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2019
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O*NET-SOC 51-9123.00 · SOC 51-9123 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8