---
title: "Shoe Machine Operator and Tender"
description: "Operate or tend a variety of machines to join, decorate, reinforce, or finish shoes and shoe parts."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/shoe-machine-operator-and-tender"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Shoe Machine Operator and Tender

**Category:** Production · **SOC code:** 51-6042 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 51-6042.00

Operate or tend a variety of machines to join, decorate, reinforce, or finish shoes and shoe parts.

Also advertised as: Boot Maker; Cobbler; Inseamer; Insole Department Worker; Shoe Cementer; Shoe Maker; Side Laster; Stitcher.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $35,650 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $17.14/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $26,560 to $47,700, with the middle half between $29,090 and $43,090
- **Total US employment:** 3,280
- **Typical entry education:** High school
- **Preparation required:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** -6.9% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 400 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 53/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 3,280 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $26,560 |
| 25th | $29,090 |
| 50th (median) | $35,650 |
| 75th | $43,090 |
| 90th | $47,700 |
| Mean (average) | $36,280 |

### Pay by state

The 6 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| NY | $48,420 | $44,866 | 40 |
| CA | $47,730 | $43,109 | 30 |
| ME | $39,850 | $41,061 | 530 |
| WI | $37,970 | $40,353 | 110 |
| MN | $37,600 | $38,126 | 370 |
| TX | $26,560 | $27,365 | 500 |

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 4,600 in the 2025–2035 base year to 4,200 by the end of the cycle — a loss of 300 jobs, or -6.9%. Declining: -6.9% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 400 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** High school diploma or equivalent (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Short-term on-the-job training.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 46.4% |
| High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 38.0% |
| Some College Courses | 15.3% |
| Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree | 0.3% |

## What the work involves

- Perform routine equipment maintenance such as cleaning and lubricating machines or replacing broken needles.
- Test machinery to ensure proper functioning before beginning production.
- Switch on machines, lower pressure feet or rollers to secure parts, and start machine stitching, using hand, foot, or knee controls.
- Study work orders or shoe part tags to obtain information about workloads, specifications, and the types of materials to be used.
- Cut excess thread or material from shoe parts, using scissors or knives.
- Inspect finished products to ensure that shoes have been completed according to specifications.
- Turn knobs to adjust stitch length and thread tension.
- Align parts to be stitched, following seams, edges, or markings, before positioning them under needles.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 2.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 2.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Operations Monitoring — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operation and Control — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Equipment Maintenance — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Quality Control Analysis — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Troubleshooting — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Repairing — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Production and Processing — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administration and Management — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 2.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 2.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Personnel and Human Resources — importance 2.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Public Safety and Security — importance 2.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Near Vision — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Arm-Hand Steadiness — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Control Precision — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Manual Dexterity — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Finger Dexterity — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Realistic (R), Conventional (C).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| R — Realistic | 6.71 |
| C — Conventional | 3.88 |
| I — Investigative | 1.77 |
| A — Artistic | 1.67 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.54 |
| S — Social | 1.30 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ISTJ | 86.0 |
| ISTP | 75.0 |
| ISFJ | 72.7 |
| ESTJ | 71.4 |
| INTJ | 63.2 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Sewing Machine Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/sewing-machine-operator) — median $36,670
- [Cutting and Slicing Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cutting-and-slicing-machine-setter-operator-and-tender) — median $46,570
- [Shoe and Leather Worker and Repairer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/shoe-and-leather-worker-and-repairer) — median $37,800
- [Grinding and Polishing Worker, Hand](https://nuecareer.com/careers/grinding-and-polishing-worker-hand) — median $42,660
- [Cutter and Trimmer, Hand](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cutter-and-trimmer-hand) — median $38,020
- [Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setter, Operator, and Tender, Metal and Plastic](https://nuecareer.com/careers/grinding-lapping-polishing-and-buffing-machine-tool-setter-operator-and-tender-metal-and-plastic) — median $46,550
- [Woodworking Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender, Except Sawing](https://nuecareer.com/careers/woodworking-machine-setter-operator-and-tender) — median $43,380
- [Textile Cutting Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender](https://nuecareer.com/careers/textile-cutting-machine-setter-operator-and-tender) — median $38,760
- [Adhesive Bonding Machine Operator and Tender](https://nuecareer.com/careers/adhesive-bonding-machine-operator-and-tender) — median $46,460
- [Sawing Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender, Wood](https://nuecareer.com/careers/sawing-machine-setter-operator-and-tender-wood) — median $42,770

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

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