# Pressers, Textile, Garment, and Related Materials

> Press or shape articles by hand or machine.

- **SOC code:** 51-6021.00
- **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/roles/role-51-6021-00
- **Also known as:** Ironing Worker, Pants Presser, Presser, Shirt Presser, Boarder, Dry Cleaner Presser, Garment Presser, Ironing Machine Operator
- **Frame:** "AI exposure" means task overlap (how codifiable the work is), not jobs lost or a forecast. Every figure below is traced to a named public dataset.

## What this work is

**Core tasks** (O*NET):
- Hang, fold, package, and tag finished articles for delivery to customers.
- Operate steam, hydraulic, or other pressing machines to remove wrinkles from garments and flatwork items, or to shape, form, or patch articles.
- Straighten, smooth, or shape materials to prepare them for pressing.
- Remove finished pieces from pressing machines and hang or stack them for cooling, or forward them for additional processing.
- Finish pleated garments, determining sizes of pleats from evidence of old pleats or from work orders, using machine presses or hand irons.
- Lower irons, rams, or pressing heads of machines into position over material to be pressed.
- Shrink, stretch, or block articles by hand to conform to original measurements, using forms, blocks, and steam.
- Identify and treat spots on garments.
- Finish fancy garments such as evening gowns and costumes, using hand irons to produce high quality finishes.
- Push and pull irons over surfaces of articles to smooth or shape them.
- Finish pants, jackets, shirts, skirts and other dry-cleaned and laundered articles, using hand irons.
- Slide material back and forth over heated, metal, ball-shaped forms to smooth and press portions of garments that cannot be satisfactorily pressed with flat pressers or hand irons.

## Skills, tools, capabilities

**Knowledge, skills & abilities** (O*NET, highest importance first):
- Manual Dexterity _(ability)_
- Customer and Personal Service _(knowledge)_
- Arm-Hand Steadiness _(ability)_
- Production and Processing _(knowledge)_
- Control Precision _(ability)_
- Near Vision _(ability)_
- Finger Dexterity _(ability)_
- Multilimb Coordination _(ability)_
- Operation and Control _(transferable_skill)_
- Reaction Time _(ability)_
- Trunk Strength _(ability)_
- English Language _(knowledge)_

**Skills in demand:**
- Finger Dexterity _(Common Skill)_
- Microsoft Word _(Common Skill)_
- Microsoft Excel _(Common Skill)_
- English Language _(Common Skill)_
- Time Management _(Common Skill)_
- Information Ordering _(Specialized Skill)_
- Deductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(Common Skill)_
- Mathematics _(Common Skill)_
- Inductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Depth Perception _(Common Skill)_
- Speech Recognition _(Specialized Skill)_

**Tools & technology:**
- Microsoft Excel _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Word _(hot technology)_
- Email software

## AI exposure & outlook

- **AI task-overlap index:** 3rd percentile (Low) across all occupations — composite of current-era exposure studies (ai-exposure-index-v1).
- **Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.):** 1st percentile (Low) — source: felten_aioe.
- **LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou):** 5th percentile (Low) — source: eloundou_gamma.
- **AI assistant applicability (Microsoft):** 12th percentile (Low) — source: microsoft_applicability.
- **Frey–Osborne (2013, historical computerization estimate):** 65th percentile — kept separate from current-era studies.
- **Remote-capable (Dingel–Neiman):** no — task structure, not who actually works remote.
- **Projected employment (BLS 2024–34):** -13.5% growth (Declining); 2.8k annual openings; 28.4k → 24.6k jobs.
- **Pay & employment (BLS OEWS, May 2024):** median $33,880; 26,830 employed.

## Sources

- **O*NET** (30.3) — U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)** (May 2024) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS Employment Projections** (2024–2034) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **Microsoft “Working with AI”** (working-with-ai) — Microsoft Research. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/
- **“GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.)** (arXiv 2303.10130) — OpenAI / academic. https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130
- **AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE)** (Felten, Raj & Seamans) — academic. https://github.com/AIOE-Data/AIOE
- **Frey & Osborne (2013)** (frey-osborne-automation) — academic. https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/publications/the-future-of-employment/
- **Dingel & Neiman (2020)** (dingel-neiman-workathome) — academic. https://github.com/jdingel/DingelNeiman-workathome

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_Generated from Singulariki's joined dataset; data snapshot 2026-06-02T21:00:32.945303+00:00. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-51-6021-00_