NOC 2021 · 94132 · TEER 4
Industrial sewing machine operators
Unit group 94132 of the National Occupational Classification, 2021 Version 1.0.
Check which category draws this code qualifies for
What this group covers
Industrial sewing machine operators operate sewing machines to sew fabric, fur, leather or synthetic materials to produce or repair garments and other articles. They are employed in clothing, footwear, textile products, fur products and other manufacturing establishments and by furriers.
Example job titles
As Statistics Canada publishes them. Yours may be worded differently and still belong here.
- automatic basting sewing machine operator
- automatic sewing machine operator
- bag sewer - textile manufacturing
- basting machine operator - sewing
- binding machine operator - sewing
- binding sewing machine operator
- binding stitcher - footwear manufacturing
- blindstitch-sewing machine operator
- button stayer
- buttonhole finisher
- buttonhole machine operator
- buttonhole maker
- buttonhole stayer
- canvas goods sewing machine operator
- carpet binder
- carpet sewer
- closer - sewing
- closer sewing machine operator
- cloth mender
- commercial sewing machine operator
- domestic sewing machine operator
- double needle sewing machine operator
- double needle sewing machine stitcher
- drapery header
- drapery heading maker
- drapery sewer
- fabric mender
- fabric repairer
- factory hat sewer
- fancy stitch machine operator
- footwear sewer
- fur goods sewer
- fur sewer
- fur sewing machine operator
- garment braid maker - garment manufacturing
- garment braider - garment manufacturing
- garment mender - sewing
- glove stitcher
- hemmer machine operator - sewing
- industrial sewing machine operator
- joiner sewing machine operator
- leather bag sewer
- leather garment sewer
- leather garment sewing machine operator
- leather glove repairer
- leather products sewing machine operator
- leather sewer
- leather-glove-stitching machine operator
- leather-sewing machine operator
- lining sewer
- lining stitcher
- machine button sewer
- machine operator - garment manufacturing
- material mender
- moccasin sewer
- multineedle sewing machine operator
- overcaster - garment manufacturing
- overcasting machine operator
- overedging machine operator
- overlock sewing machine operator
- overseamer - garment manufacturing
- piping-sewing machine operator
- pocket setter
- profile-pocket sewing machine operator
- rug joiner
- rug sewer
- sample sewer
- serger - garment manufacturing
- serging machine operator
- sewer - garment manufacturing
- sewing machine operator
- shoe parts sewer
- shoe sewer
- shoe stitcher
- single-needle sewing machine operator
- slide-fastener-sewing machine operator
- slipper maker
- stitcher - garment manufacturing
- stitching machine operator - industrial sewing machine
- stocking stitcher
- tacking machine operator - sewing
- textile products mender
- textile products sewer
- tufted carpet mender
- underwear sewer
- vamp stitcher
- zipper-sewing machine operator
What it pays, and where it is hiring
Job Bank publishes a wage estimate and a three-year employment outlook for each occupation, region by region. Both are below as published — where an estimate is missing from the source it is missing here too, because the alternative is inventing one.
Across Canada
$18.00 an hour
Low $15.30, high $23.00
Where it pays most
- Calgary · Alberta$20.64
- Wood Buffalo--Cold Lake · Alberta$20.48
- Edmonton · Alberta$20.30
- Lower Mainland · British Columbia$20.00
- Ottawa · Ontario$19.52
Economic regions only. A province’s figure is an average over the regions inside it, so including one would rank a province above its own best region and read as a finding.
By province and territory
| Where | Median hourly | Low to high | Outlook 2025–2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newfoundland and Labrador | $16.77 | $16.13 – $17.37 | Undetermined |
| Prince Edward Island | Not published | Not published | Undetermined |
| Nova Scotia | $18.71 | $16.50 – $22.91 | Moderate |
| New Brunswick | $16.88 | $15.65 – $20.37 | Good |
| Quebec | $18.00 | $16.10 – $21.00 | Moderate |
| Ontario | $17.60 | $17.60 – $23.00 | Moderate |
| Manitoba | $16.00 | $16.00 – $18.90 | Moderate |
| Saskatchewan | Not published | Not published | Moderate |
| Alberta | $21.00 | $17.00 – $21.00 | Moderate |
| British Columbia | $20.00 | $17.85 – $25.00 | Limited |
| Yukon Territory | Not published | Not published | Undetermined |
| Northwest Territories | Not published | Not published | Undetermined |
| Nunavut | Not published | Not published | Undetermined |
By economic region
The 31 economic regions where Job Bank publishes a wage or a rated outlook, of 72.
| Where | Province | Median hourly | Low to high | Outlook 2025–2027 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Coast--Burin Peninsula | Newfoundland and Labrador | $16.87 | $16.76 – $18.53 | Undetermined |
| Cape Breton | Nova Scotia | Not published | Not published | Moderate |
| North Shore | Nova Scotia | $18.53 | $16.50 – $21.38 | Moderate |
| Annapolis Valley | Nova Scotia | Not published | Not published | Moderate |
| Southern | Nova Scotia | Not published | Not published | Moderate |
| Halifax | Nova Scotia | $19.15 | $16.50 – $20.01 | Undetermined |
| Capitale-Nationale | Quebec | $18.01 | $16.39 – $20.59 | Good |
| Chaudière-Appalaches | Quebec | Not published | Not published | Moderate |
| Estrie | Quebec | $17.50 | $16.10 – $25.00 | Good |
| Centre-du-Québec | Quebec | Not published | Not published | Good |
| Montérégie | Quebec | $18.65 | $16.10 – $21.80 | Good |
| Montréal | Quebec | $17.00 | $16.10 – $21.00 | Moderate |
| Laval | Quebec | $18.56 | $16.10 – $20.50 | Moderate |
| Lanaudière | Quebec | $19.05 | $17.54 – $22.13 | Good |
| Laurentides | Quebec | $18.85 | $16.66 – $24.32 | Moderate |
| Mauricie | Quebec | $18.72 | $16.55 – $22.99 | Good |
| Ottawa | Ontario | $19.52 | $17.60 – $24.33 | Undetermined |
| Kingston--Pembroke | Ontario | Not published | Not published | Limited |
| Toronto | Ontario | $17.60 | $17.60 – $23.00 | Moderate |
| Kitchener--Waterloo--Barrie | Ontario | $19.18 | $17.60 – $25.62 | Limited |
| Hamilton--Niagara Peninsula | Ontario | $19.25 | $17.60 – $25.00 | Moderate |
| London | Ontario | Not published | Not published | Good |
| Windsor--Sarnia | Ontario | Not published | Not published | Moderate |
| South Central | Manitoba | $16.41 | $16.00 – $20.15 | Very good |
| North Central | Manitoba | Not published | Not published | Very good |
| Winnipeg | Manitoba | $16.00 | $16.00 – $17.00 | Moderate |
| Saskatoon--Biggar | Saskatchewan | Not published | Not published | Moderate |
| Calgary | Alberta | $20.64 | $17.83 – $25.45 | Moderate |
| Edmonton | Alberta | $20.30 | $17.78 – $25.69 | Moderate |
| Wood Buffalo--Cold Lake | Alberta | $20.48 | $18.12 – $23.10 | Undetermined |
| Lower Mainland | British Columbia | $20.00 | $17.85 – $25.00 | Moderate |
Job Bank rates employment prospects for each occupation in each economic region from very good to very limited over 2025–2027, and says “undetermined” where it has not got enough to rate. It is an assessment of prospects, not a count of vacancies.
The estimates on this page come from Labour Force Survey (2023-2024) · Small Area Estimation (2024).
Job Bank publishes an estimate for 24,364 of the 44,376 occupation-and-place pairs in this release. The rest are suppressed rather than modelled, and appear here as not published.
Wage estimates from the 2025 Wages release, revised 19 November 2025; employment outlooks from 2025-2027 Employment Outlooks - NOC 2021, released 8 December 2025. Both are updated annually. Estimates for different regions come from different surveys, so comparing two regions is exactly as sound as Job Bank’s own regional comparison and no more.
Source: Statistics Canada — National Occupational Classification 2021 V1.0; Employment and Social Development Canada — Job Bank wages; Employment and Social Development Canada — Job Bank 3-year employment outlooks. Data current as of 13 August 2026. NOC 2021 Version 1.0. The classification is versioned rather than dated — IRCC moved to it in November 2022, and a new version would be a new classification rather than an update.