Food Preparation Workers

Low pay & highrisk
High Risk
73%

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Vote Comments (3)
AUTOMATION RISK
CALCULATED
76%
(High Risk)
POLLING
70%
(High Risk, Based on 65 votes)
Average: 73%
LABOR DEMAND
GROWTH
-3.4%
by year 2034
WAGES
$34,220
or $16.45 per hour
Volume
888,770
as of 2024
SUMMARY
What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
2.2/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

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Calculated automation risk

76% (High Risk)

High Risk (61-80%): Jobs in this category face a significant threat from automation, as many of their tasks can be easily automated using current or near-future technologies.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Some quite important qualities of the job are difficult to automate:

  • Assisting and Caring for Others

  • Manual Dexterity

  • Finger Dexterity

  • Social Perceptiveness

User poll

70% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted that it's probable this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 76% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Food Preparation Workers will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

Growth

Very slow growth relative to other professions.

The number of 'Food Preparation Workers' job openings is expected to decline 3.4% by 2034

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Wages

Very low paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for 'Food Preparation Workers' was $34,220, or $16 per hour

'Food Preparation Workers' were paid 30.9% lower than the national median wage, which stood at $49,500

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Volume

Significantly greater range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 888,770 people employed as 'Food Preparation Workers' within the United States.

This represents around 0.6% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 173 people are employed as 'Food Preparation Workers'.

Job description

Perform a variety of food preparation duties other than cooking, such as preparing cold foods and shellfish, slicing meat, and brewing coffee or tea.

SOC Code: 35-2021.00

Comments (3)

Nick (Highly likely)
11 Dec 2023 09:36
When factories can do this more hygienic and in larger scale, more logistics will be in place less prepping for human beings.
Tyler Fortnite Ninja Blevins (No chance)
16 Nov 2020 10:35
Saying a job is going to be taken by robots is such a weak mindset.
Erin Clay
31 Mar 2019 22:12
I voted high because one can pretty much take a Raspberry Pi and a camera today and get a few robot arms and sensors (if they have the skills and know how, of course) and automate the process with some relays and programmable logic controllers (PLCs)...sooo by using a sensor network. But good food quality testing would have to be in place as well.
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