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Chefs and Head Cooks vs Waiters and Waitresses

Side-by-side · O*NET · BLS · AI-exposure research · Anthropic Economic Index

A factual, source-backed comparison of Chefs and Head Cooks and Waiters and Waitresses on the dimensions both occupations carry. Every figure is a position within an independent published dataset — not a verdict on which job is better, safer, or more “future-proof.”

Chefs and Head Cooks Waiters and Waitresses
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$60,990
$33,760
Employment · BLS OEWS
182,320
2,302,690
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
51st pct
83rd pct

At a glance

Dimension Chefs and Head Cooks Waiters and Waitresses
Median pay $60,990 $33,760
Employment 182,320 2,302,690
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection Growing fast (+7.1%) Declining (-0.7%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 24,400 456,700
Typical education · O*NET Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree. Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Moderate · 51st pct High · 83rd pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 47th pct · 25% of tasks 52nd pct · 28% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index Automation-leaning (38.9%) Augmentation-leaning (42.9%)
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman No No

Pay and employment are BLS OEWS estimates; outlook and openings are BLS 2024–2034 projections; AI exposure and observed-use figures come from separate research and reflect exposure and usage, not predictions that either job will disappear. Compare like with like.

Skills

Shared: Coordination, Food Production, Oral Expression, Problem Sensitivity, Monitoring, Oral Comprehension, Information Ordering, Customer and Personal Service, Speaking, Social Perceptiveness, Time Management, Deductive Reasoning, Speech Clarity, Critical Thinking, Service Orientation, Inductive Reasoning, Near Vision, Speech Recognition, Active Listening, Judgment and Decision Making, Reading Comprehension, Written Comprehension, Selective Attention, English Language, Complex Problem Solving, Category Flexibility.

Specific to Chefs and Head Cooks

  • Production and Processing
  • Management of Personnel Resources
  • Personnel and Human Resources
  • Administration and Management
  • Instructing
  • Mathematics
  • Education and Training
  • Active Learning

Specific to Waiters and Waitresses

  • Sales and Marketing
  • Time Sharing
  • Trunk Strength
  • Stamina
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness
  • Manual Dexterity
  • Finger Dexterity
  • Gross Body Coordination

Knowledge, skills & abilities O*NET rates as important for each occupation. “Shared” are common to both; the columns list what is distinctive to each (top by the order O*NET surfaces).

Tools & technology

Shared: Web page creation and editing software , Instant messaging software .

Specific to Chefs and Head Cooks

Specific to Waiters and Waitresses

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Chefs and Head Cooks or Waiters and Waitresses — tasks, the full skill graph, tools, work context, preparation, wages by percentile, industries, AI exposure and the AI work map.

More comparisons

Related occupations you can place side by side on the same sourced scale.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Chefs and Head Cooks vs Waiters and Waitresses." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/compare/chefs-and-head-cooks-vs-waiters-and-waitresses

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Chefs and Head Cooks vs Waiters and Waitresses. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/chefs-and-head-cooks-vs-waiters-and-waitresses

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-chefs-and-head-cooks-vs-waiters-and-waitresses,
  title  = {Chefs and Head Cooks vs Waiters and Waitresses},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/compare/chefs-and-head-cooks-vs-waiters-and-waitresses}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.