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AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Shoe Machine Operators and Tenders?
Task-level automation exposure for Shoe Machine Operators and Tenders: 19 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
15%
weighted task index
19 of 19 tasks scored
Median Salary
$35,650 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Low
3,280 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
-6.9%
employment change
400 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 6 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$26,560 – $48,420
Highest medians
New York $48,420
California $47,730
Maine $39,850
Wisconsin $37,970
Minnesota $37,600
Lowest medians
Texas $26,560
Minnesota $37,600
Wisconsin $37,970
Maine $39,850
California $47,730
State figures come from the 51-6042 row in the May 2025 state panel. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.
What the score is made of
Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.
Automation potential 15%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 82%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 6%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 0%
Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.
Rewritten by O*NET 0%
Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.
Consequence of error 2/100
Low
O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.
Constituent Task Mix
19 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.
High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 6%
1 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 0%
0 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 94%
18 tasks
How would you survive?
Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.
Simulate Upskilling →Constituent Tasks
#24000 · Core · 33% automatable
Inspect finished products to ensure that shoes have been completed according to specifications.
visual inspection — Product inspection needs physical visual/tactile check
Inspect products or operations to ensure that standards are met. Inspect finishes of workpieces or finished products.
#14094 · Core · 6% automatable
Align parts to be stitched, following seams, edges, or markings, before positioning them under needles.
physical manipulation — Aligning parts for assembly needs hands and judgment
Align parts or workpieces to ensure proper assembly.
#14100 · Core · 5% automatable
Operate or tend machines to join, decorate, reinforce, or finish shoes and shoe parts.
physical manipulation — Operating sewing equipment is manual machine work
Operate sewing equipment.
#14090 · Core · 6% automatable
Remove and examine shoes, shoe parts, and designs to verify conformance to specifications such as proper embedding of stitches in channels.
physical manipulation — Physically extracting parts from production equipment
Remove products or workpieces from production equipment.
#14096 · Core · 5% automatable
Switch on machines, lower pressure feet or rollers to secure parts, and start machine stitching, using hand, foot, or knee controls.
physical manipulation — Operating sewing equipment is manual machine work
Operate sewing equipment.
#14101 · Core · 5% automatable
Draw thread through machine guide slots, needles, and presser feet in preparation for stitching, or load rolls of wire through machine axles.
physical manipulation — Feeding materials into equipment is physical
Load materials into production equipment. Feed materials or products into or through equipment.
#14089 · Core · 80% automatable
Study work orders or shoe part tags to obtain information about workloads, specifications, and the types of materials to be used.
information retrieval — Parse specs and materials from orders
Read work orders or other instructions to determine product specifications or materials requirements.
#14091 · Core · 8% automatable
Perform routine equipment maintenance such as cleaning and lubricating machines or replacing broken needles.
physical manipulation — Hands-on removal and fitting of worn components
Clean production equipment. Replace worn equipment components. Maintain production or processing equipment.
#14099 · Core · 30% automatable
Test machinery to ensure proper functioning before beginning production.
physical manipulation — Operating production equipment physically on site
Conduct test runs of production equipment.
#14105 · Core · 32% automatable
Select and place spools of thread or pre-wound bobbins into shuttles, or onto spindles or loupers of stitching machines.
decision support — Input material selection from specs; human approves
Select production input materials. Mount materials or workpieces onto production equipment.
#14092 · Core · 8% automatable
Cut excess thread or material from shoe parts, using scissors or knives.
physical manipulation — Manual trimming of workpieces
Trim excess material from workpieces.
#14107 · Core · 5% automatable
Turn knobs to adjust stitch length and thread tension.
physical manipulation — Operating sewing equipment is manual machine work
Operate sewing equipment.
#14102 · Supplemental · 5% automatable
Fill shuttle spools with thread from a machine's bobbin winder by pressing a foot treadle.
physical manipulation — Operating sewing equipment is manual machine work
Operate sewing equipment.
#14104 · Supplemental · 5% automatable
Staple sides of shoes, pressing a foot treadle to position and hold each shoe under the feeder of the machine.
physical manipulation — Sewing and assembling textiles needs fine dexterity
Assemble garments or textile products.
#14098 · Supplemental · 5% automatable
Position dies on material in a manner that will obtain the maximum number of parts from each portion of material.
physical manipulation — Mounting tools requires hands-on setup
Mount attachments or tools onto production equipment.
#14097 · Supplemental · 5% automatable
Collect shoe parts from conveyer belts or racks and place them in machinery such as ovens or on molds for dressing, returning them to conveyers or racks to send them to the next work station.
physical manipulation — Mounting workpieces is physical loading
Mount materials or workpieces onto production equipment.
#14095 · Supplemental · 5% automatable
Turn setscrews on needle bars, and position required numbers of needles in stitching machines.
physical manipulation — Operating sewing equipment is manual machine work
Operate sewing equipment.
#14093 · Supplemental · 5% automatable
Turn screws to regulate size of staples.
physical manipulation — Operating sewing equipment is manual machine work
Operate sewing equipment.
#14106 · Supplemental · 5% automatable
Hammer loose staples for proper attachment.
physical manipulation — Sewing and assembling textiles needs fine dexterity
Assemble garments or textile products.
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How this was scored
- 1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
- 2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
- 3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
- 4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.
Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.
Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast
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