cooper
Coopers build barrels and related products made of segments of wood, like wooden buckets. They shape the wood, fit hoops around them, and shape the barrel to hold the product, which contemporarily is usually premium alcoholic beverages.
cooper coopers build barrels and related products made of segments of wood, like wooden buckets. They shape the wood, fit hoops around them, and shape the barrel to hold the product, which contemporarily is usually premium alcoholic beverages. The role shows moderate AI exposure (0.50 on a 0-1 scale) — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. The most in-demand skills for the role include wood moisture content, woodworking tools, manufacture of wooden barrels, wood cuts, types of wood.
Pay in the UK
UK: median £33,078 a year for Furniture makers and other craft woodworkers (ONS ASHE 2025, full-time)
UK jobs are grouped differently; this is the closest UK occupation group (ONS SOC 2020 5442). ONS rates this estimate reasonably precise. 2025 provisional figures; ONS revises them a year later. Source: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Open Government Licence)
Pay in India (occupation group)
Average monthly earnings of salaried employees in the occupation group “Craft and related trades workers” in India, from the Government of India's Periodic Labour Force Survey (January–December 2025). It covers everyone in this group, not only cooper, and it is not US pay converted to rupees.
Source: MoSPI (Government of India), Periodic Labour Force Survey Annual Report 2025, Table 51 — average wage/salary earnings of regular wage/salaried employees, NCO-2015 division 7. Official India data gives one average per occupation group: there are no official India figures for single careers, experience levels or cities. Read the report
Top skills
Frequently asked questions
What does cooper do?
Coopers build barrels and related products made of segments of wood, like wooden buckets. They shape the wood, fit hoops around them, and shape the barrel to hold the product, which contemporarily is usually premium alcoholic beverages.
What skills does cooper need?
The most in-demand skills for this role include wood moisture content, woodworking tools, manufacture of wooden barrels, wood cuts, types of wood, bend staves. These are the skills O*NET identifies as most important for competent performance.
Will AI replace cooper?
Our AI-durability model gives cooper a score of 0.50 on a 0-1 scale (higher = more exposure). That places it at moderate AI exposure — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. Learning to work with AI tools rather than against them is the path forward.