Industry group, 3161
Leather and Hide Tanning and Finishing
3,180 people work in this industry in the US, at mean pay of $51,140 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: 698,598 hours at what they cost. Not a forecast of savings.
- 21%
- 8%
- 72%
of the paid hours are within reach now in tasks people already bring to Claude. Another 12% 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, 1%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 13%. Today's estimate: 14%.
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 16 largest jobs hold 97% of the people.
| People | Pay here | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers | 260 | 32% | 172,516 | $60K |
| Office Clerks, General | 90 | 54% | 101,650 | $49K |
| Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks | 40 | 78% | 64,563 | $49K |
| Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers | 120 | 24% | 60,154 | $45K |
| Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks | 50 | 53% | 55,016 | $39K |
| Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products | 70 | 36% | 52,125 | $72K |
| Textile Bleaching and Dyeing Machine Operators and Tenders | 180 | 11% | 41,184 | $47K |
| Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers | 880 | 2% | 36,608 | $38K |
| General and Operations Managers | 70 | 23% | 33,197 | $77K |
| Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand | 120 | 9% | 22,464 | $37K |
| Industrial Production Managers | 40 | 24% | 20,051 | $91K |
| Maintenance and Repair Workers, General | 130 | 6% | 15,413 | $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. 2 smaller jobs (80 people) count in every total but are not listed. Task data covers 75% 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.
- Plan and establish work schedules, assignments, and production sequences to meet production goals.First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers61,002 hours100% of the task within reach
- Plan and develop new products and production processes.First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers54,425 hours67% of the task within reach
- Read and analyze charts, work orders, production schedules, and other records and reports to determine production requirements and to evaluate current production estimates and outputs.First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers41,350 hours100% of the task within reach
- Estimate the costs of requested products or services such as custom footwear or footwear repair, and receive payment from customers.Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers37,121 hours100% of the task within reach
- Determine standards, budgets, production goals, and rates, based on company policies, equipment and labor availability, and workloads.First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers30,691 hours100% of the task within reach
- Calculate labor and equipment requirements and production specifications, using standard formulas.First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers25,504 hours100% of the task within reach
- Compute, record, and proofread data and other information, such as records or reports.Office Clerks, General22,543 hours100% of the task within reach
- Write test or inspection reports describing results, recommendations, or needed repairs.Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers21,251 hours100% of the task within reach
- Design new equipment to aid in the repair or maintenance of machines, mechanical equipment, or building structures.Maintenance and Repair Workers, General19,626 hours70% of the task within reach
- Maintain operations data, such as time, production, and cost records, and prepare management reports of production results.First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers17,473 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