Career
Shoe machine operators and tenders
Run machines that make shoes.
$35,650
Median pay
-6.9%
Job growth, 2025–35
400
Openings a year
High school diploma or equivalent
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
- Inspect finished products to ensure that shoes have been completed according to specifications.
- Align parts to be stitched, following seams, edges, or markings, before positioning them under needles.
- Operate or tend machines to join, decorate, reinforce, or finish shoes and shoe parts.
- Remove and examine shoes, shoe parts, and designs to verify conformance to specifications such as proper embedding of stitches in channels.
- Switch on machines, lower pressure feet or rollers to secure parts, and start machine stitching, using hand, foot, or knee controls.
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?
“Inspect finished products to ensure that shoes have been completed according to specifications.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Operation and Control.
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 $35,650 a year and 400 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- Shoe, Boot and Leather RepairCIP 48.0304
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Sewing Machine Operators$36,670 · -15.1%
- Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders$46,570 · -0.9%
- Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers$37,800 · -6.5%
- Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand$42,660 · -19.2%
- Cutters and Trimmers, Hand$38,020 · -18.9%
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.