Sewing, embroidery and related workers
In the ILO's assessment few of the job's tasks can be done by generative AI, or the scores are too spread out to reach gradient 1 — generative AI does not meaningfully take over the core of the work.
Exposure is not job loss: it shows how much of the work generative AI could do today. Whether that turns into transformation, productivity gains or cuts depends on employers, regulation — and on you.
0 = today’s generative AI cannot perform any of the job’s tasks, 100 = it could do all of them fully. The pale band is the spread across tasks.
Work out your own score ↓What can you do?
The AI analysis for this occupation is still being prepared — the background process covers a few occupations every day.
Task by task
The ILO scored every task of the occupation separately, as the average of two AI models (GPT-4o and Gemini). The pale band is the range between the two models' scores, the dot the ILO's final score (for a few tasks expert review placed it outside the band).
- Embroidering ornamental designs on cloth by hand or machine using needle and coloured threads14
- Selecting thread according to specifications or colour of parts or dyeing thread to match colour and shade of cloth to be darned14
- Trimming ends with scissors to make mended portion look uniform with pattern of cloth14
- Sewing ornamental designs by hand over stamped, printed or stencilled patterns on fabric using needle and coloured thread14
- Sewing or gluing decorative trimmings to articles, such as hats, caps or millinery14
- Hand-sewing umbrella covers to frames, tacking cover to ribs along seams, sewing corners to tip of rib and sewing ties to outside of cover to hold umbrella when folded14
- Pulling knots to the wrong sides of garments, using hooks13
- Fabricating and assembling thick cloth, canvas and similar materials into sails, awning, tarpaulins and tents.12
- Softening leather or shoe material with water to prepare it for sewing12
- Removing stitches from garments to be altered, using rippers or razor blades10
- Repairing defective or damaged portion of cloth or garment by hand, using matching thread and needle10
- Patching holes, sewing tears and ripped seams, or darning defects in items, using needles and thread9
How much does it affect you?
Every job is different: mark which of these tasks you do and how much, and we'll compute your own, time-weighted score.
For each task: I don't do it · sometimes · most of my job.
- Embroidering ornamental designs on cloth by hand or machine using needle and coloured threads(14)
- Selecting thread according to specifications or colour of parts or dyeing thread to match colour and shade of cloth to be darned(14)
- Trimming ends with scissors to make mended portion look uniform with pattern of cloth(14)
- Sewing ornamental designs by hand over stamped, printed or stencilled patterns on fabric using needle and coloured thread(14)
- Sewing or gluing decorative trimmings to articles, such as hats, caps or millinery(14)
- Hand-sewing umbrella covers to frames, tacking cover to ribs along seams, sewing corners to tip of rib and sewing ties to outside of cover to hold umbrella when folded(14)
- Pulling knots to the wrong sides of garments, using hooks(13)
- Fabricating and assembling thick cloth, canvas and similar materials into sails, awning, tarpaulins and tents.(12)
- Softening leather or shoe material with water to prepare it for sewing(12)
- Removing stitches from garments to be altered, using rippers or razor blades(10)
- Repairing defective or damaged portion of cloth or garment by hand, using matching thread and needle(10)
- Patching holes, sewing tears and ripped seams, or darning defects in items, using needles and thread(9)
You are exactly at the occupation average. (The occupation's score: 12.)
About 0% of your working time goes to highly exposed tasks (score ≥ 50).
- • Embroidering ornamental designs on cloth by hand or machine using needle and coloured threads
- • Selecting thread according to specifications or colour of parts or dyeing thread to match colour and shade of cloth to be darned
- • Patching holes, sewing tears and ripped seams, or darning defects in items, using needles and thread
- • Repairing defective or damaged portion of cloth or garment by hand, using matching thread and needle
An estimate from the ILO task scores. Everything is computed in your browser — nothing is sent or stored.
How many people work in this occupational group?
Share of the Food processing, wood working, garment and other craft and related trades workers group in total employment, by country (Eurostat, ISCO 2-digit — 4-digit breakdowns are not public by country).
Table view
| Country | Food processing, wood working, garment and other craft and related trades workers |
|---|---|
| Romania | 3.2% · 250 thousand · 2025 |
| Portugal | 2.9% · 150 thousand · 2025 |
| Latvia | 2.8% · 25 thousand · 2025 |
| Poland | 2.8% · 488 thousand · 2025 |
| Lithuania | 2.8% · 41 thousand · 2025 |
| Bulgaria | 2.7% · 80 thousand · 2025 |
| Slovakia | 2.6% · 69 thousand · 2025 |
| Slovenia | 2.5% · 25 thousand · 2025 |
| Italy | 2.5% · 590 thousand · 2025 |
| Hungary | 2.3% · 109 thousand · 2025 |
| Czechia | 2.1% · 112 thousand · 2025 |
| Greece | 1.9% · 82 thousand · 2025 |
| Estonia | 1.8% · 13 thousand · 2025 |
| Croatia | 1.7% · 30 thousand · 2025 |
| Ireland | 1.7% · 48 thousand · 2025 |
| Malta | 1.7% · 6 thousand · 2025 |
| France | 1.6% · 458 thousand · 2025 |
| Spain | 1.5% · 343 thousand · 2025 |
| Germany | 1.5% · 636 thousand · 2025 |
| Austria | 1.5% · 66 thousand · 2025 |
| Belgium | 1.2% · 60 thousand · 2025 |
| Iceland | 1.2% · 3 thousand · 2025 |
| Switzerland | 1.1% · 54 thousand · 2025 |
| Cyprus | 1.0% · 5 thousand · 2025 |
| Netherlands | 0.8% · 78 thousand · 2025 |
| Finland | 0.8% · 21 thousand · 2025 |
| United Kingdom | 0.6% · 211 thousand · 2025 |
| Denmark | 0.5% · 16 thousand · 2025 |
| Sweden | 0.5% · 25 thousand · 2025 |
| Norway | 0.4% · 12 thousand · 2025 |
What do they earn?
Mean gross monthly earnings in the major occupational group (Craft and related trades workers). Eurostat's earnings survey only publishes pay by occupation at 1 digit, so this is the job's broader group. Enterprises with 10+ employees, 2022.
By country, at purchasing power parity (PPS/month), so countries with different price levels can be compared.
- Switzerland4,098
- Iceland3,826
- Denmark3,666
- Norway3,260
- Belgium2,979
- Germany2,859
- Luxembourg2,760
- Sweden2,733
- Netherlands2,717
- Austria2,715
- Finland2,711
- EU272,364
- Italy2,314
- Ireland2,200
- Spain2,124
- France2,122
- Malta2,032
- Slovenia2,012
- Lithuania2,008
- Greece1,799
- Estonia1,795
- Poland1,787
- Czechia1,781
- Cyprus1,751
- Romania1,734
- Hungary1,684
- Latvia1,680
- Slovakia1,672
- Croatia1,505
- Portugal1,285
- Bulgaria1,217
Source: Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey (earn_ses22_21), every four years. The United Kingdom is not covered by the survey.
Outlook to 2035
Employment in the Food processing, wood working, garment and other craft and related trades workers group according to Cedefop's 2026 forecast.
thousand · Cedefop Skills Forecast 2026 · 2026–2035: projection
Replacement demand is the jobs left by people retiring or changing careers — even a shrinking occupation can have many openings.
Related occupations
Sources: ILO WP140 (2025) · Eurostat lfsa_egai2d · Cedefop Skills Forecast 2026 · WEF Future of Jobs 2025 · ESCO. The exposure score measures how much of an occupation's tasks generative AI could perform — not whether the job disappears. For information only, not career advice. How do we calculate this?