Butchers and Meat Cutters

AI & job outlook

What today's research says about this occupation's exposure to AI, how AI is actually being used in it, and where employment is headed. These are positions within published studies — measures of exposure and usage, not predictions that this job will disappear.

Exposure to current AI

Each study uses its own scale, so the raw scores are not comparable across rows — the percentile (this job's rank among all U.S. occupations with data) is the comparable figure, and sizes the bars.

OpenAI's exposure study scores tasks three ways: with a language model alone (α 0.1), with simple added tooling (β 0.1), and including AI-powered software (γ 0.2). Higher means more of the job's tasks could be done at least twice as fast — not that they will be automated away.

This job mostly cannot be done remotely (Dingel–Neiman) — its hands-on tasks sit outside what software-based AI reaches.

Mixed signals. Today's AI/LLM studies show relatively low exposure for this job, but the older (2013) Frey–Osborne work rated it higher for computerization and robotics. Different eras, different technologies — the AI measures above reflect the current state.

Job outlook

Independent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics employment projection for 2024–2034 — a labor-market forecast, not an AI-impact forecast.

“Annual openings” counts new jobs plus replacements for workers who leave the occupation, so it can be large even when growth is modest.

Where this work sits on the global GenAI gradient

The ILO's 2025 global study scores generative-AI exposure on the international ISCO-08 occupation system, not US SOC. Bridged through the published (and approximate, many-to-many) IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 crosswalk, this US occupation corresponds to the international occupation below. Exposure here means how much of the work's tasks today's AI can attempt — task overlap, not automation, adoption, or jobs lost.

Read the whole six-band gradient on the GenAI exposure gradient page. The crosswalk is approximate: a US occupation can map to several international ones, and the ILO scores describe the international occupation, not this exact US role.

Tasks

All 12 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, ordered by importance. Each links to its own page with AI-exposure and observed-use detail.

• Prepare and place meat cuts and products in display counter to appear attractive and catch the shopper's eye. Core · importance 4.7
• Wrap, weigh, label, and price cuts of meat. Core · importance 4.6
• Cut, trim, bone, tie, and grind meats, such as beef, pork, poultry, and fish, to prepare in cooking form. Core · importance 4.5
• Prepare special cuts of meat ordered by customers. Core · importance 4.5
• Receive, inspect, and store meat upon delivery to ensure meat quality. Core · importance 4.5
• Estimate requirements and order or requisition meat supplies to maintain inventories. Core · importance 4.3
• Record quantity of meat received and issued to cooks or keep records of meat sales. Supplemental · importance 4.2
• Supervise other butchers or meat cutters. Supplemental · importance 4.1
• Cure, smoke, tenderize, and preserve meat. Supplemental · importance 4.0
• Negotiate with representatives from supply companies to determine order details. Supplemental · importance 3.9
• Shape, lace, and tie roasts, using boning knife, skewer, and twine. Core · importance 3.9
• Total sales, and collect money from customers. Supplemental

Emerging tasks

Newer responsibilities O*NET has flagged as growing for this occupation.

• Clean and sanitize meat cases and cutting equipment.

Work activities

• Mark products, workpieces, or equipment with identifying information.
• Weigh finished products.
• Prepare meat products for sale or consumption.
• Cut meat products.
• Inspect food products.
• Estimate material requirements for production.
• Order materials, supplies, or equipment.
• Direct operational or production activities.
• Record operational or production data.
• Confer with customers or designers to determine order specifications.
• Load items into ovens or furnaces.

Knowledge, skills & abilities

O*NET importance rating, from 1 (not important) to 5 (extremely important).

Knowledge

Abilities

Essential skills

Transferable skills

Skills in demand

Skills employers ask for in job postings for this occupation (Lightcast), with whether each is a common or specialized skill.

• Information Ordering Specialized Skill
• Active Listening Common Skill
• Time Management Common Skill
• Speech Recognition Specialized Skill
• Social Perceptiveness Common Skill
• Reading Comprehension Common Skill
• Microsoft Word Common Skill
• Microsoft Outlook Common Skill
• Microsoft Excel Common Skill
• Finger Dexterity Common Skill
• Critical Thinking Common Skill
• Visualization Specialized Skill
• Complex Problem Solving Common Skill
• English Language Common Skill
• Negotiation Common Skill
• Inductive Reasoning Common Skill
• Deductive Reasoning Common Skill
• Instructing Specialized Skill
• Depth Perception Common Skill
• Active Learning Common Skill
• Mathematics Common Skill
• Systems Analysis Specialized Skill
• Writing Common Skill
• Learning Strategies Specialized Skill
• Psychology Specialized Skill
• Equipment Maintenance Specialized Skill
• Biology Specialized Skill
• Equipment Selection Specialized Skill
• Chemistry Specialized Skill
• Foreign Language Common Skill
• Telecommunications Specialized Skill
• Physics Specialized Skill
• Geography Specialized Skill
• Installation Specialized Skill
• Accounting Software Specialized Skill

Tools & technology

Work context

How characteristic each condition is of the job, on O*NET's 1–5 context scale (higher = more present in day-to-day work). Each condition links to how it varies across all occupations.

How to get in

Job zone

Zone 2 — Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed

Education

Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.

Typical entry-level education

No formal educational credential · BLS, the typical path — not a requirement

Related experience

Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.

Preparation level

SVP (Below 6.0) — total schooling plus on-the-job experience.

What to study: Culinary, Entertainment, and Personal Services . Fields of study crosswalked to this occupation (NCES CIP–SOC), not a requirement.

Education of current workers

Share of people in this occupation at each level of education.

Interests & work styles

The interests and personal qualities O*NET associates with people who do this work.

Career interests (Holland / RIASEC)

Interest areas

Work styles

Wages & employment

U.S. · annual wages (BLS OEWS)

Industries that employ this occupation

Where these workers are employed, by number of jobs (national, BLS OEWS). Pay shown is the occupation's national median, not industry-specific.

Where this work is most concentrated

Industries where this occupation is far more common than in the economy as a whole. The location quotient is how many times more concentrated it is here (a value of 5 means five times its economy-wide share).

Related occupations

Part of the Agriculture career cluster.

• Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers · 51-3022.00 Compare →
• Slaughterers and Meat Packers · 51-3023.00 Compare →
• Cooks, Restaurant · 35-2014.00 Compare →
• Food Preparation Workers · 35-2021.00 Compare →
• Bakers · 51-3011.00 Compare →
• Cooks, Short Order · 35-2015.00 Compare →
• Chefs and Head Cooks · 35-1011.00 Compare →
• Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria · 35-2012.00 Compare →
• Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders · 51-3093.00 Compare →
• Food Batchmakers · 51-3092.00 Compare →
• Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products · 45-2041.00 Compare →
• Fast Food and Counter Workers · 35-3023.00 Compare →

Side-by-side comparisons place two occupations’ pay, preparation, skills, and AI exposure on the same page — same data, same scale, no forecast.

What you can do with this

Options the data surfaces for Butchers and Meat Cutters — not advice or a forecast. Each is a real cross-link you can follow into the evidence.

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.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai Microsoft Research
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic
• AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans academic
• ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025 International Labour Organization
• IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022 Institute for Structural Research (IBS)
• Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation academic
• Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome academic

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

@misc{singulariki-role-51-3021-00,
  title  = {Butchers and Meat Cutters},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; 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/roles/role-51-3021-00}
}