This is the busiest time of year in the jewelry business as people who consistently put off our holiday shopping scurry around looking for gifts. And items created by jewelers are what last minute shoppers often scoop up.

More information Gemological Institute of America 5345 Armada Drive Carlsbad, Calif. 92008 (800) 421-7250

Jewelers design and make rings, bracelets, necklaces and other items out of materials such as gold, silver and diamonds or other gems. While many work as designers, other jewelers specialize in repair, sales or appraisal. Those working in smaller shops often do many of these tasks.

In addition to sales, jewelers who work in retail stores often do minor repairs or adjustments as well, such as changing batteries in watches, or removing links from watchbands or chains. Those working in repair shops handle tasks such as re-sizing rings, resetting stones or replacing broken clasps and mountings.

A large number of jewelers work in manufacturing. According to the Manufacturing Jewelers and Silversmiths of America, 33,000 workers produce more than $3.8 billion worth of merchandise in the precious jewelry industry each year. Another $1.5 billion worth of costume jewelry is produced by 18,000 workers annually. A large amount of manufacturing is done in New York, Rhode Island and California.

Anyone considering the jewelry for a career needs a high level of skill and attention to detail. "Concentration and a love of gems and jewelry is essential," says Thomas H. Bolton III, a "semi-retired" registered jeweler and certified gemologist, and former president of T.H. Bolton Jewelers Inc. in Rochester.

Acquiring those skills can be done through either a technical school, or a correspondence course, such as those offered by the Gemological Institute of America in Carlsbad, Calif. Jewelers in manufacturing normally learn through apprenticeships and/or years of on-the-job training.

Bolton, who has worked at his trade for 54 years, got his start by tinkering with clocks before World War II and then working on aircraft instruments while in the Air Force. He later took courses in subjects like gemology from the GIA.

Over his career the industry has changed. For example, now watches are made "so you can't fix them," he says. "You can't buy parts . . . you just throw them away. I strictly work on antiques."

The Occupational Outlook Handbook published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, indicates that approximately one-third of jewelers were self-employed in 1996, with many of them owning their own design or repair shop.

According to a survey by Jeweler Circular-Keystone, a trade publication, the median salary for jewelry repair workers in retail stores for 1995 was between $30,200 and $32,100.