← Back to Careers
Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers
Production · SOC 51-6041
0.0% AI Exposure — Low
$37,800
Median Annual Salary
Average
O*NET Outlook
1,400
Proj. Annual Openings
7,450
Employment (OEWS 2025)
-2.7%/yr
Empl. growth (2019–2025)
100/100
AI Resiliency Score
AI exposure from the Anthropic Economic Index (2025); salary from BLS; skills from O*NET. See /sources.
Decision card
Career Evidence Passport
SOC 51-6041 evidence across exposure, wages, projections, postings, certified LCAs, skills, and transitions.
Proxy / seed data labeledDescriptive-only
- SOC exposure
- 0.0%
- Low · Anthropic AEI
- Automation friction
- 51/100
- Moderate friction; broad SOC seed ORS job-requirements coverage.
- Wages
- $37,800
- No H-1B offered-wage row for this SOC.
- Projected openings
- 1,400
- BLS EP 2024–2034; employment change -3.8%.
- Observed/proxy demand
- —
- FY— certified LCAs; 1,513 postings in 2025.
Skill evidence
Active ListeningSpeakingCritical ThinkingMonitoringReading Comprehension
Transition context
- H-1B values are certified Labor Condition Applications, not visa approvals.
- Job postings are seed-static / seed-derived; treat as provider-ready proxy coverage until observed provider data is wired in.
- Transition matches are directional skill-overlap context, not placement guarantees.
- This release is a FutureGrid broad-SOC seed derived from public BLS ORS requirement concepts and categories, not direct occupation-level ORS survey estimates. It describes job requirements, not worker ability, AI capability, or displacement probability. Automation friction is a FutureGrid derived score and should be read alongside exposure, demand, wage, and projection signals.
AI Exposure Analysis
AI Exposure0.0%
AI Resiliency100/100
Exposure BandLow
Sector Avg. Exposure0.7%
Across AI measures
Multiple exposure lenses for this occupation.
15.3%
Consensus
Actual adoption · Anthropic0%
AI capability · OpenAI5.9%
AI ability · AIOE40%
Automation baseline (2013) · Frey & Osborne52%
Top Skills
1.Active Listening
2.Speaking
3.Critical Thinking
4.Monitoring
5.Reading Comprehension
H-1B Visa Sponsorship Demand
View full H-1B trends →No H-1B certified LCA filings recorded for this occupation in FY2016–FY2025.
O*NET occupation profile
What this work involves
Construct, decorate, or repair leather and leather-like products, such as luggage, shoes, and saddles. May use hand tools.
Common titles: Boot Maker, Cobbler, Leather Worker, Saddle and Harness Maker, Shoe Cutter, Shoe Maker
Representative Tasks
- •Dye, soak, polish, paint, stamp, stitch, stain, buff, or engrave leather or other materials to obtain desired effects, decorations, or shapes.
- •Cut out parts, following patterns or outlines, using knives, shears, scissors, or machine presses.
- •Construct, decorate, or repair leather products according to specifications, using sewing machines, needles and thread, leather lacing, glue, clamps, hand tools, or rivets.
- •Repair and recondition leather products such as trunks, luggage, shoes, saddles, belts, purses, and baseball gloves.
- •Align and stitch or glue materials such as fabric, fleece, leather, or wood, to join parts.
Detailed Work Activities
- •Assemble garments or textile products.
- •Trim excess material from workpieces.
- •Apply water or solutions to fabrics or apparel.
- •Polish materials, workpieces, or finished products.
- •Repair textiles or apparel.
Tools & Technologies
Microsoft Excel · hotBookkeeping softwareFinancial accounting softwareInventory tracking softwareSale processing software
Employment Projections & AI Exposure
15
Occupations Shown
0.5%
Avg AI Exposure
1
Bright Outlook
Horizontal bar chart showing occupations with the highest projected annual openings. Each bar length represents annual projected openings. Color uses a gradient from violet (lower) to cyan (higher). Summary statistics are shown above the chart.
Employment & Wage Trend
BLS OEWS, 2019–2025
Multi-year BLS OEWS history for SOC 51-6041: 2019 — employment: 8,760, median wage: $29,560; 2020 — employment: 7,380, median wage: $30,550; 2021 — employment: 5,620, median wage: $31,450; 2022 — employment: 8,860, median wage: $32,460; 2023 — employment: 7,230, median wage: $36,020; 2025 — employment: 7,450, median wage: $37,800.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). See /sources.
Sector Comparison
| Metric | This Career | Sector Average |
|---|---|---|
| AI Exposure | 0.0% | 0.7% |
| Outlook | Average | 4% Bright |
| Median Salary | $37,800 | N/A |
| AI Resiliency | 100/100 | N/A |