Leather goods machine operator
Also called leather production worker, leather products machinist, leather production machinist
Leather goods machine operators tend specific machines in the industrial production of leather goods products. They operate machinery for cutting, closing, and finishing luggage, handbags, saddlery and harness products. They also perform routine maintenance of the machinery.
What you'd do
Shoemaking and related machine operators · ILO- Operating and monitoring machines which mark patterns and cut shoe parts
- Operating and monitoring machines which sew shoe parts together, or edge, polish, or apply ornaments and perform finishing tasks
- Operating and monitoring machines which produce luggage, handbags, belts and other accessories, as well as other items such as saddles, collars or harnesses
- Indoors
- On your feet most of the day
- Lots of contact with people, including the public
- Good freedom to decide
- Usually 40 hours a week
- Deadlines most weeks
- Varied tasks, little repetition
Will there be jobs?
Limited prospectsFewer jobs than in most work will need filling by 2035.
Solid: measured. Dashed: forecast.
What does it pay?
About averagePay depends a lot on the country: from about €1,000 a month (Bulgaria) to €5,500 (Denmark), before tax.
Pick a country at the top of the page to see typical pay there, for people under 30, and compared with all jobs.
Among plant and machine operators, and assemblers in the EU, women earn 21% less per hour than men. Plant and machine operators, and assemblers · Eurostat
What do I need to study?
Upper secondary or vocationalUpper secondary or vocational training in textiles (clothes, footwear and leather) is the usual route.
Pick a country at the top of the page to see where to study and the official course finders.
Will AI change it?
Very littleAI could help with only small parts of the tasks.
Average task score 0.16 on a scale from 0 (AI can't do it) to 1 (AI could do it fully).
See the score for each of the 3 tasks
Based on what AI could technically do when assessed in 2025. It is not a forecast for a future year, and not a forecast of job losses. Scores for shoemaking and related machine operators. Source: ILO (2025), adapted (credits).