Industry group, 3159
Apparel Accessories and Other Apparel Manufacturing
11,910 people work in this industry in the US, at mean pay of $49,110 a year (BLS, May 2025). What follows is how much of their working time the best AI models could finish, when, and in which jobs and tasks. Estimates.
of the paid hours. Estimate.
a year: 4 million hours at what they cost. Not a forecast of savings.
- 28%
- 11%
- 60%
of the paid hours are within reach now in tasks people already bring to Claude. Another 14% is within reach in tasks not yet seen there.
Across the US: 22% within reach now and 37% by the end of 2028, on the long-run pace at four in five.
Share of the paid hours within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this industry's paid hours were within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 2%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 17%. Today's estimate: 19%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Where the hours are
Jobs by hours within reach now. The 27 largest jobs hold 95% of the people.
| People | Pay here | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Customer Service Representatives | 330 | 64% | 442,042 | $39K |
| Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products | 540 | 36% | 402,107 | $54K |
| Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks | 320 | 53% | 352,102 | $37K |
| First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers | 430 | 32% | 285,314 | $57K |
| Graphic Designers | 240 | 51% | 256,091 | $38K |
| Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks | 150 | 78% | 242,112 | $48K |
| Office Clerks, General | 210 | 54% | 237,183 | $42K |
| Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers | 380 | 24% | 190,487 | $36K |
| General and Operations Managers | 380 | 23% | 180,212 | $100K |
| Sewing Machine Operators | 3,930 | 2% | 171,662 | $35K |
| Printing Press Operators | 290 | 24% | 145,974 | $45K |
| Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks | 90 | 63% | 118,685 | $57K |
People: BLS counts for this industry, May 2025. Pay here: the median paid for the job in this industry, else its mean, else the national median. 15 smaller jobs (520 people) count in every total but are not listed. Task data covers 87% of the industry's people; the rest are in BLS "all other" groups with no task list, or in counts BLS does not publish.
The tasks with the most hours within reach by the end of 2028
Across the whole industry, on the chosen pace and reliability.
- Record quantities of materials processed.Sewing Machine Operators171,744 hours100% of the task within reach
- Monitor market conditions, product innovations, and competitors' products, prices, and sales.Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products122,709 hours100% of the task within reach
- Plan and establish work schedules, assignments, and production sequences to meet production goals.First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers100,889 hours100% of the task within reach
- Plan and develop new products and production processes.First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers90,010 hours67% of the task within reach
- Create designs, concepts, and sample layouts, based on knowledge of layout principles and esthetic design concepts.Graphic Designers86,004 hours100% of the task within reach
- Prepare documents, such as work orders, bills of lading, or shipping orders, to route materials.Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks85,303 hours100% of the task within reach
- Develop graphics and layouts for product illustrations, company logos, and Web sites.Graphic Designers85,248 hours99% of the task within reach
- Perform administrative duties, such as preparing sales budgets and reports, keeping sales records, and filing expense account reports.Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products82,273 hours100% of the task within reach
- Collect and analyze data on customer demographics, preferences, needs, and buying habits to identify potential markets and factors affecting product demand.Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists79,768 hours90% of the task within reach
- Obtain and examine all relevant information to assess validity of complaints and to determine possible causes, such as extreme weather conditions that could increase utility bills.Customer Service Representatives74,687 hours100% of the task within reach
Scan a typical company in this industry
The industry's largest jobs, in the proportions BLS counts across the whole industry, at the pay it pays, run through the company scan. A starting point before you have a roster, or a benchmark for the one you have.
Next to this industry
Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
How it is built: BLS counts the people in each job in this industry; each job's tasks and their lengths give its share within reach at a date; the industry's share is those shares weighted by people. Value is pay times 1.43 for benefits and payroll costs. Seen in Claude use splits today's share by whether Anthropic saw people bring each task to Claude in 2025; other AI tools are not counted. How it works