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.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Critical Thinking
- Monitoring
- Reading Comprehension
- Social Perceptiveness
- Coordination
- Service Orientation
Key knowledge
- Production and Processing
- Customer and Personal Service
- Mechanical
- Sales and Marketing
- Administration and Management
- Education and Training
- Engineering and Technology
- Economics and Accounting
What the work involves
- 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.
- Align and stitch or glue materials such as fabric, fleece, leather, or wood, to join parts.
- Dye, soak, polish, paint, stamp, stitch, stain, buff, or engrave leather or other materials to obtain desired effects, decorations, or shapes.
- Repair and recondition leather products such as trunks, luggage, shoes, saddles, belts, purses, and baseball gloves.
- Inspect articles for defects, and remove damaged or worn parts, using hand tools.
- Drill or punch holes and insert or attach metal rings, handles, and fastening hardware, such as buckles.
- Select materials and patterns, and trace patterns onto materials to be cut out.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Artistic.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (56.4% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (85.6%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (30.9%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Low | Lower on contact with others than 61% of occupations compared | — |
| Dealing with the public | Moderate | Higher on dealing with the public than 53% of occupations compared | — |
| Teamwork | Very low | Lower on teamwork than 99% of occupations compared | — |
| Freedom to make decisions | High | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 68% of occupations compared | — |
| Time pressure | High | Higher on time pressure than 64% of occupations compared | — |
| Conflict situations | Very low | Lower on conflict situations than 88% of occupations compared | 37% of surveyed respondents chose “Never” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Moderate | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 50% of occupations compared | 74% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Consequence of error | Low | Lower on consequence of error than 65% of occupations compared | — |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: high
- Conflict situations: very low
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: moderate
- Consequence of error: low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 3.09%
- Occasional contact with others: 3.01%
- Contact with others about half the time: 5.89%
- Contact with others most of the time: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Constant contact with others: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2022
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 24.38%
- Fairly important: 4.79%
- Important: 2.2%
- Very important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Extremely important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2022
Teamwork
- Not important at all: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Fairly important: 1.1%
- Important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Very important: 9.18%
- Extremely important: 9.64%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2022
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 1.99%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 9.45%
- Some freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- A lot of freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2022
Time pressure
- Never: 9.74%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 11.84%
- Once a week or more but not every day: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Every day: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2022
Conflict situations
- Never: 37.07%
- Once a year or more but not every month: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a month or more but not every week: 0%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 20.61%
- Every day: 5.45%
n = 16, Incumbent 08/2022
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 10.84%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 10.74%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 74.31%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 1.1%
- Every day: 3.01%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2022
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Fairly serious: 3.36%
- Serious: 8.71%
- Very serious: 10.95%
- Extremely serious: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 16, Incumbent 08/2022
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O*NET-SOC 51-6041.00 · SOC 51-6041 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8