Meat and Seafood Processor / Packager

Career Area: Hospitality, Food, and Tourism

Occupation Group: Food and Beverage Preparation

Salary

Percentile wages tell how much a certain percentage of an overall population in a geographic area or within a given industry or field makes. The percentile wage estimate is the value of a wage below which a certain percent of workers fall.

An example would be the 25th percentile, 25 percent of workers employed in that occupation earn less and 75 percent earn more than the estimated wage value. At the 75th percentile, 75 percent of workers employed in that occupation earn less and 25 percent earn more than the estimated wage value.

A typical Meat and Seafood Processor / Packager earns the following wages (national and state):

State

The average salary in North Carolina for those pursuing this career is $27,636

National

The average salary in the United States for those pursuing this career is $28,255

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

Works in a processing facility to cut, sort and package meat and seafood for sale to retail or wholesale customers. Processes and packages food according to health and safety guidelines.

Employment Trends

The job demand and job growth statistics shown here were derived from job posts over the past year. Expected job growth projections are extrapolated from year-over-year job post listing history.

Job demand and job growth is expected at the following rates:

Skills

A professional in this position typically utilizes the following skills in the course of everyday work in this exciting and challenging field:

Baseline Skills

The following are baseline skills every Meat and Seafood Processor / Packager is expected to have in order to experience success in this field:

• Physical Abilities: Physical Abilities, which refers to the ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with the body, arms, and/or legs. These abilities often require strength, endurance, flexibility, balance and coordination.
• Communication Skills: The ability to convey information to another effectively and efficiently.
• Teamwork / Collaboration: Experience working in collaborative efforts with a team to achieve a common goal or to complete a task in the most effective and efficient way.
• English: English is a West Germanic language that was first spoken in early medieval England and is now a global lingua franca.
• Work Area Maintenance:

Specialized Skills

These skills are specific to working in this career:

• Cleaning: Cleaning is the process of removing unwanted substances, such as dirt, infectious agents, and other impurities, from an object or environment.
• Packaging: Packaging is the technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use.
• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): Working experience of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Personal protective equipment consists of types of equipment that is worn to reduce exposure to hazardous materials.
• Sorting: Sorting is any process of arranging items systematically, and has two common, yet distinct meanings: ordering: arranging items in a sequence ordered by some criterion; categorizing: grouping items with similar properties.
• Machinery: Experience working with machinery.

Distinguishing Skills

Any Meat and Seafood Processor / Packager that possesses the following skills will stand out against the competition:

• Food Safety: Food safety is a scientific discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness.

Experience

This position typically requires the following level of experience. The numbers presented in the pie charts below were derived from actual job posts over the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.

Common Job Titles

It is possible to find work in this field in positions commonly listed as the following job titles:

• Seafood Processor
• Sever
• Meat Processor
• Seasonal Seafood Processor
• Live Hanger