Plasterer
Also called stucco mason, wall finisher, plaster worker
Plasterers apply plaster made from gypsum, cement or other solutions to walls as a smooth finish. They mix dry plaster powder with water, then smear the resulting paste onto a wall. The plaster is then smoothed before it hardens and forms a solid coating on the wall.
What you'd do
Plasterers · ILO- Applying one or more coats of plaster to interior walls and ceilings of buildings to produce finished surface
- Measuring, marking and installing ornamental plaster panels, and casting and trimming ornamental plaster cornices
- Measuring, marking and cutting plasterboard, lifting and positioning panels and securing them to walls, ceilings and battens
- Covering joins and nail holes with wet plaster and sealing compounds, and smoothing them using wet brushes and sand paper
- Applying protective and decorative covering of cement, plaster and similar materials to exterior building surfaces
- Making and installing decorative plaster fixtures of fibrous plaster
- Applying and finishing acoustic, insulating and fireproofing materials bonded with plaster, plastic cement and similar materials
- Mostly outdoors
- On your feet most of the day
- Lots of contact with people
- Some freedom to decide
- Usually 40 hours a week
- Deadlines now and then
- Varied tasks, little repetition
Will there be jobs?
Yes, good prospects11 EU countries are short of plasterers now, but fewer jobs than in most work will need filling by 2035.
Solid: measured. Dashed: forecast.
What does it pay?
About averagePay depends a lot on the country: from about €1,000 a month (Bulgaria) to €5,500 (Denmark), before tax.
Pick a country at the top of the page to see typical pay there, for people under 30, and compared with all jobs.
Among craft and related trades workers in the EU, women earn 26% less per hour than men. Craft and related trades workers · Eurostat
What do I need to study?
Upper secondary or vocationalUpper secondary or vocational training is the usual route.
Pick a country at the top of the page to see where to study and the official course finders.
Will AI change it?
Very littleAI could help with only small parts of the tasks.
Average task score 0.11 on a scale from 0 (AI can't do it) to 1 (AI could do it fully).
See the score for each of the 7 tasks
Based on what AI could technically do when assessed in 2025. It is not a forecast for a future year, and not a forecast of job losses. Scores for plasterers. Source: ILO (2025), adapted (credits).