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Fast Food and Counter Workers vs Waiters and Waitresses

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

A factual, source-backed comparison of Fast Food and Counter Workers 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.”

Fast Food and Counter Workers Waiters and Waitresses
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$30,480
$33,760
Employment · BLS OEWS
3,780,930
2,302,690
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
56th pct
83rd pct

At a glance

Dimension Fast Food and Counter Workers Waiters and Waitresses
Median pay $30,480 $33,760
Employment 3,780,930 2,302,690
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+6.1%) Declining (-0.7%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 904,300 456,700
Typical education · O*NET Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not. Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Moderate · 56th pct High · 83rd pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk — 52nd pct · 28% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — Augmentation-leaning (42.9%)
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman — 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: Customer and Personal Service, English Language, Food Production, Active Listening, Social Perceptiveness, Coordination, Service Orientation, Oral Comprehension, Oral Expression, Near Vision, Speech Recognition, Speech Clarity, Monitoring, Time Sharing, Trunk Strength, Information Ordering, Manual Dexterity, Speaking, Problem Sensitivity, Selective Attention, Arm-Hand Steadiness, Sales and Marketing, Critical Thinking, Far Vision, Reading Comprehension, Judgment and Decision Making, Time Management, Deductive Reasoning, Memorization, Finger Dexterity.

Specific to Fast Food and Counter Workers

  • Mathematics
  • Computers and Electronics
  • Administration and Management
  • Production and Processing
  • Auditory Attention
  • Administrative
  • Education and Training
  • Personnel and Human Resources

Specific to Waiters and Waitresses

  • Stamina
  • Written Comprehension
  • Gross Body Coordination
  • Persuasion
  • Inductive Reasoning
  • Static Strength
  • Extent Flexibility
  • Complex Problem Solving

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 , Point of sale POS software .

Specific to Fast Food and Counter Workers

Specific to Waiters and Waitresses

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Fast Food and Counter Workers 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. "Fast Food and Counter Workers 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/fast-food-and-counter-workers-vs-waiters-and-waitresses

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Fast Food and Counter Workers vs Waiters and Waitresses. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/fast-food-and-counter-workers-vs-waiters-and-waitresses

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-fast-food-and-counter-workers-vs-waiters-and-waitresses,
  title  = {Fast Food and Counter Workers 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/fast-food-and-counter-workers-vs-waiters-and-waitresses}
}

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