# Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers

> Construct, decorate, or repair leather and leather-like products, such as luggage, shoes, and saddles. May use hand tools.

- **SOC code:** 51-6041.00
- **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/roles/role-51-6041-00
- **Also known as:** Boot Maker, Cobbler, Shoe Maker, Shoe Repairer, Leather Worker, Saddle and Harness Maker, Shoe Cutter, Shoe Repairman
- **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):
- Prepare inserts, heel pads, and lifts from casts of customers' feet.
- Dress and otherwise finish boots or shoes, as by trimming the edges of new soles and heels to the shoe shape.
- Attach insoles to shoe lasts, affix shoe uppers, and apply heels and outsoles.
- Clean and polish shoes.
- Cement, nail, or sew soles and heels to shoes.
- Check the texture, color, and strength of leather to ensure that it is adequate for a particular purpose.
- Dye, soak, polish, paint, stamp, stitch, stain, buff, or engrave leather or other materials to obtain desired effects, decorations, or shapes.
- Shape shoe heels with a knife, and sand them on a buffing wheel for smoothness.
- Place shoes on lasts to remove soles and heels, using knives or pliers.
- Repair or replace soles, heels, and other parts of footwear, using sewing, buffing and other shoe repair machines, materials, and equipment.
- Cut, insert, position, and secure paddings, cushioning, or linings, using stitches or glue.
- Cut out parts, following patterns or outlines, using knives, shears, scissors, or machine presses.

## Skills, tools, capabilities

**Knowledge, skills & abilities** (O*NET, highest importance first):
- Near Vision _(ability)_
- Arm-Hand Steadiness _(ability)_
- Finger Dexterity _(ability)_
- Production and Processing _(knowledge)_
- Problem Sensitivity _(ability)_
- Active Listening _(essential_skill)_
- Speaking _(essential_skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(essential_skill)_
- Monitoring _(essential_skill)_
- Oral Comprehension _(ability)_
- Deductive Reasoning _(ability)_
- Inductive Reasoning _(ability)_

**Skills in demand:**
- Finger Dexterity _(Common Skill)_
- Visualization _(Specialized Skill)_
- Speech Recognition _(Specialized Skill)_
- Microsoft Excel _(Common Skill)_
- Information Ordering _(Specialized Skill)_
- Inductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Deductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(Common Skill)_
- Active Listening _(Common Skill)_
- Social Perceptiveness _(Common Skill)_
- Reading Comprehension _(Common Skill)_
- Time Management _(Common Skill)_

**Tools & technology:**
- Microsoft Excel _(hot technology)_
- Bookkeeping software
- Financial accounting software
- Inventory tracking software
- Sale processing software

## AI exposure & outlook

- **AI task-overlap index:** 10th percentile (Low) across all occupations — composite of current-era exposure studies (ai-exposure-index-v1).
- **Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.):** 18th percentile (Low) — source: felten_aioe.
- **LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou):** 16th percentile (Low) — source: eloundou_gamma.
- **AI assistant applicability (Microsoft):** 9th percentile (Low) — source: microsoft_applicability.
- **Frey–Osborne (2013, historical computerization estimate):** 47th percentile — kept separate from current-era studies.
- **Remote-capable (Dingel–Neiman):** no — task structure, not who actually works remote.
- **Projected employment (BLS 2024–34):** -3.8% growth (Declining); 0.9k annual openings; 9.5k → 9.1k jobs.
- **Pay & employment (BLS OEWS, May 2024):** median $35,950; 7,640 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-51-6041-00_