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Waiters and Waitresses vs Food Preparation Workers

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

A factual, source-backed comparison of Waiters and Waitresses and Food Preparation 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.”

Waiters and Waitresses Food Preparation Workers
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$33,760
$34,220
Employment · BLS OEWS
2,302,690
888,770
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
83rd pct
44th pct

At a glance

Dimension Waiters and Waitresses Food Preparation Workers
Median pay $33,760 $34,220
Employment 2,302,690 888,770
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection Declining (-0.7%) Declining (-3.4%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 456,700 148,000
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 High · 83rd pct Moderate · 44th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 52nd pct · 28% of tasks 11th pct · 13% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index Augmentation-leaning (42.9%) Augmentation-leaning (55.4%)
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: Customer and Personal Service, Service Orientation, Oral Comprehension, Oral Expression, Speech Recognition, Speech Clarity, English Language, Active Listening, Speaking, Social Perceptiveness, Time Sharing, Trunk Strength, Stamina, Coordination, Problem Sensitivity, Monitoring, Deductive Reasoning, Information Ordering, Arm-Hand Steadiness, Manual Dexterity, Near Vision, Critical Thinking, Written Comprehension, Selective Attention, Finger Dexterity, Reading Comprehension, Judgment and Decision Making, Time Management, Inductive Reasoning, Static Strength, Extent Flexibility, Far Vision, Food Production, Category Flexibility.

Specific to Waiters and Waitresses

  • Sales and Marketing
  • Gross Body Coordination
  • Persuasion
  • Complex Problem Solving
  • Written Expression
  • Memorization

Specific to Food Preparation Workers

  • Production and Processing
  • Administration and Management
  • Visual Color Discrimination
  • Quality Control Analysis
  • Multilimb Coordination
  • Mathematics

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

Specific to Waiters and Waitresses

Specific to Food Preparation Workers

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Waiters and Waitresses or Food Preparation 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. "Waiters and Waitresses vs Food Preparation 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/waiters-and-waitresses-vs-food-preparation-workers

APA

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

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-waiters-and-waitresses-vs-food-preparation-workers,
  title  = {Waiters and Waitresses vs Food Preparation 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/waiters-and-waitresses-vs-food-preparation-workers}
}

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