PathLensSOUTH AFRICA · CLEARER PATHS. BRIGHTER OPTIONS.
Shoemaker
OFO Code: 683601
Last checked 7 October 2026
1. Occupation identity
- OFO code
- 683601
- Occupation
- Shoemaker
- Classification
- OFO 2021
- Major group
- SKILLED AGRICULTURAL, FORESTRY, FISHERY, CRAFT AND RELATED TRADES WORKERS
- Unit group
- 6836 · Shoemakers and Related Workers
Official description
Shoemakers and related workers make, modify and repair standard, custom or orthopaedic footwear and natural or synthetic leather articles, such as luggage, handbags and belts, (except for leather garments, hats and gloves), or participate in the manufacture of shoes and related goods. They decorate, reinforce or finish shoes, luggage, handbags and belts.
More official OFO detail
Specialisations: Medical Grade Shoemaker, Shoe / Boot Repairer, Handlacer, Footwear Repairer, Cobbler
- Attaching accessories or ornamentation to decorate or protect products
- Studying work orders and/or shoe part tags to obtain information about workloads, specifications, and the types of materials to be used
- Removing and examining shoes, shoe parts, and designs to verify conformance to specifications such as proper embedding of stitches in channels
- Taking plaster casts of deformed legs or foot to prepare drawings
- Making, modifying and repairing orthopaedic or therapeutic footwear according to doctors' prescriptions, or modifying existing footwear for people with foot problems and special needs
- Cutting out, shaping and padding parts for making leather articles
- Making and repairing articles such as saddles and harnesses for animals, luggage, handbags, brief-cases, leather bags, belts and other accessories
- Making, modifying and repairing standard footwear to meet individual requirements
- Repairing belts, luggage, purses and similar products
- Studying drawings and other specifications to make footwear according to customer’s needs
- Sewing rips or patching holes to repair articles, such as purses, belts, shoes, and luggage
- Preparing inserts, heel pads, and lifts from casts of customers' feet
2. Demand status
Demand evidence unavailable
No approved governed OIHD graph relationship is available on this deployment for this OFO code.
PathLens does not fall back to legacy specimen demand flags when governed evidence is unavailable.
A national demand signal is not a promise of a vacancy in your town.
3. Salary evidence
No approved governed salary observation or sourced snapshot salary record is available for this OFO code yet.
Open remuneration history & calculator →4. Quick EE check
How much might Employment Equity matter in this job context?
Answer three quick questions for a rough read. This is workforce context, not a hiring decision.
Select the employer size and your profile to get a quick read.
5. Qualification
Qualification evidence pending.
Understand NQF levels, institutions & recognition → Build my qualification pathway →6. Study funding
Check all funding options, eligibility & obligations →A funding match will only be shown once a recognised qualification or study route has been identified.
7. Industry, sector and provincial context
National occupation classification. Industry and provincial context are shown only where a separate official source supports the link.
No source-backed modern OFO↔SIC 7 industry link has been ingested for this occupation yet. PathLens does not infer one from the job title.
Browse the official South African industry classification →8. Next steps — official links
9. Decision tools
10. Sources for this page
- DHET Organising Framework for Occupations (OFO 2021) · Ingested · identity spine active
Canonical OFO identity data has been ingested and validated. 1511 occupation records are recorded in the ingest artifact. - DHET Occupations in High Demand · Validated pipeline · graph publication not confirmed
The governed OIHD pipeline is active, but a successful populated graph run is not currently confirmed on this deployment. - Critical Skills List · Monitored · occupation linkage pending
Official migration sources are monitored, but PathLens does not infer visa eligibility or occupation-level eligibility from monitoring alone. - QCTO qualifications and occupational certificates · Candidate staging ready · not published
Qualification staging and human review are implemented; no qualification↔OFO relationship is published without an explicit source identifier or governed human review. - Stats SA Quarterly Labour Force Survey · Acquisition active · no approved evidence on this deployment
Official QLFS artifact discovery is active. Dataset-specific schema, weighting, reliability and review gates remain separate; a discovered artifact or executable estimator does not itself create a public claim. - SETA Sector Skills Plans / hard-to-fill vacancy tables · Partial · explicit source links only
PathLens preserves explicit source-backed SETA/activity links where present and does not infer modern SIC relationships from occupation titles.