Drycleaner

A drycleaner operates industrial laundry and dry cleaning equipment to clean, press, and finish garments and textiles using chemical solvents and steam. They inspect items for damage or stains, apply appropriate treatment methods, and ensure garments meet quality standards before return to customers.

Operate dry cleaning machines using petroleum-based or eco-friendly solvents to clean delicate fabrics, wool, silk, and garments unsuitable for water washing. Sort incoming garments by fabric type, colour, and soiling level to determine appropriate cleaning cycle and chemical treatment. Pre-treat stains using spotting agents and hand-cleaning techniques before machine washing. Load, set temperature and solvent parameters, and monitor dry cleaning machine cycles to prevent fabric damage or chemical residue. Operate steam pressing equipment and industrial ironing tables to press cleaned garments to shape and remove wrinkles. Inspect finished garments for quality, residual stains, damage, or colour bleeding and reprocess items that do not meet standards. Apply finishes such as waterproofing, sizing, or soft-touch treatments to garments as per customer requests or standard protocols. Use hand-pressing tools, sleeve boards, and tailor's hams to finish collars, cuffs, and detail areas of garments.

The standard entry pathway requires a Certificate I or compulsory secondary education (ABS skill level 5). Specific qualification requirements vary by employer and state. Some employers may accept equivalent experience. Check yourcareer.gov.au for available courses and dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe for subsidised training options.

The work is physically demanding with long hours on your feet in hot, humid conditions around industrial presses and chemical fumes. Pay is modest and hasn't grown much as demand for dry cleaning has dropped. You're also competing against casual workers and chain operations squeezing wages down.

Smaller towns have fewer opportunities. The industry clusters around affluent shopping strips and CBD areas. Remote work isn't possible for this role.

Published for ANZSCO unit group 8115, the wider group this job sits in, not for this job on its own.

This is the median for full-time employees who are not managers and are paid at the adult rate, before tax and salary sacrifice. It is a guide to what the work pays, not a wage rate.

Source: ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.

• Active Listeningcore
• Attention to Detailcore
• Clean household linenscore
• Complaint Handlingcore
• Customer Needs Assessmentcore
• Multitaskingcore
• Policy and Procedure Adherencecore
• Quality Assurance and Checkingcore
• Regulatory and Legislative Awarenesscore
• Risk Identificationcore
• Time Management and Prioritisationcore
• Verbal Communicationcore
• Workload Self-Managementcore
• Adapt production levels
• Adaptability and Flexibility
• Basic Arithmetic and Numerical Accuracy
• Continuous Learning and Upskilling
• Incident Reporting
• Invoicing and Billing Administration
• Problem Solving
• Record Management
• Team Collaboration

• ABS OSCA 2024, occupation definition and task statements
• ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
• ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on usual place of residence (Custom Report). OSCA Experimental Estimates.

Role data is drawn from official Australian Government sources, and each figure names where it comes from. Where a role is not in the ABS classification, the page shows no government figures for it. Data may not reflect every local variation.

Where our numbers come from.

Last updated: 30 October 2026