Career
Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials
Press clothing and textiles.
$35,060
Median pay
-15.7%
Job growth, 2025–35
2,200
Openings a year
No formal educational credential
Typical education
None required
Typical time after high school
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- 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.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
The deeper question
What kind of person does this path ask you to become?
What this work centers on
O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.
The work
Do you want most of your days spent on objects & tools, then information & systems?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Hang, fold, package, and tag finished articles for delivery to customers.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Operation and Control, Critical Thinking, Operations Monitoring, Time Management.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
No degree beyond high school, though short-term on-the-job training is typical, for a median of $35,060 a year and 2,200 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- NO MATCHCIP 99.9999
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Sewing Machine Operators$36,670 · -15.1%
- Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers$34,890 · +4.3%
- Shoe Machine Operators and Tenders$35,650 · -6.9%
- Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders$50,270 · -3.6%
- Machine Feeders and Offbearers$41,220 · -13.1%
Ask anything about this career.
“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.
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Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.