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Food Preparation Workers vs Fast Food and Counter Workers

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

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

Food Preparation Workers Fast Food and Counter Workers
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$34,220
$30,480
Employment · BLS OEWS
888,770
3,780,930
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
44th pct
56th pct

At a glance

Dimension Food Preparation Workers Fast Food and Counter Workers
Median pay $34,220 $30,480
Employment 888,770 3,780,930
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection Declining (-3.4%) About average (+6.1%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 148,000 904,300
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 · 44th pct Moderate · 56th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 11th pct · 13% of tasks —
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index Augmentation-leaning (55.4%) —
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, Active Listening, Service Orientation, Time Management, Oral Comprehension, Trunk Strength, Near Vision, Food Production, Speaking, Coordination, Oral Expression, Arm-Hand Steadiness, Manual Dexterity, Finger Dexterity, Speech Recognition, Speech Clarity, Critical Thinking, Information Ordering, Production and Processing, Reading Comprehension, Social Perceptiveness, Problem Sensitivity, Deductive Reasoning, Selective Attention, Monitoring, English Language, Judgment and Decision Making, Far Vision, Administration and Management, Time Sharing, Mathematics.

Specific to Food Preparation Workers

  • Category Flexibility
  • Inductive Reasoning
  • Stamina
  • Extent Flexibility
  • Written Comprehension
  • Static Strength
  • Visual Color Discrimination
  • Quality Control Analysis

Specific to Fast Food and Counter Workers

  • Computers and Electronics
  • Sales and Marketing
  • Auditory Attention
  • Administrative
  • Education and Training
  • Personnel and Human Resources
  • Memorization
  • Foreign Language

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: Spreadsheet software , Office suite software , Data base user interface and query software , Computer based training software .

Specific to Food Preparation Workers

Specific to Fast Food and Counter Workers

Full profiles

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

APA

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

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

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