Bakers
Mix and bake ingredients to produce breads, rolls, cookies, cakes, pies, pastries, or other baked goods.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Time Management
- Reading Comprehension
- Speaking
- Critical Thinking
- Monitoring
- Quality Control Analysis
Key knowledge
- Production and Processing
- Food Production
- Customer and Personal Service
- Administration and Management
- English Language
- Public Safety and Security
- Sales and Marketing
- Administrative
What the work involves
- Observe color of products being baked, and adjust oven temperatures, humidity, or conveyor speeds accordingly.
- Set oven temperatures, and place items into hot ovens for baking.
- Combine measured ingredients in bowls of mixing, blending, or cooking machinery.
- Measure or weigh flour or other ingredients to prepare batters, doughs, fillings, or icings, using scales or graduated containers.
- Roll, knead, cut, or shape dough to form sweet rolls, pie crusts, tarts, cookies, or other products.
- Place dough in pans, molds, or on sheets, and bake in production ovens or on grills.
- Check the quality of raw materials to ensure that standards and specifications are met.
- Adapt the quantity of ingredients to match the amount of items to be baked.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Artistic.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (56.9% of expert ratings)
- Related experience
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (53.2%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (36.9%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Bakers is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very high | Higher on contact with others than 81% of occupations compared | 90% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very low | Lower on dealing with the public than 81% of occupations compared | — |
| Teamwork | Moderate | Higher on teamwork than 56% of occupations compared | 68% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Moderate | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 53% of occupations compared | — |
| Time pressure | Moderate | Lower on time pressure than 59% of occupations compared | 62% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very low | Lower on conflict situations than 96% of occupations compared | — |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very low | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 86% of occupations compared | 42% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | Low | Lower on consequence of error than 61% of occupations compared | 31% of surveyed respondents chose “Not serious at all” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: moderate
- Conflict situations: very low
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very low
- Consequence of error: low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 3.6%
- Occasional contact with others: 0.88%
- Contact with others about half the time: 2.66%
- Contact with others most of the time: 2.45%
- Constant contact with others: 90.41%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2026
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Fairly important: 7.25%
- Important: 19.75%
- Very important: 7.19%
- Extremely important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2026
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 2.54%
- Fairly important: 2.66%
- Important: 20.59%
- Very important: 5.78%
- Extremely important: 68.44%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2026
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 9.79%
- Limited freedom: 5.59%
- Some freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- A lot of freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2026
Time pressure
- Never: 24.79%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 5.58%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 2.12%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 5.1%
- Every day: 62.42%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2026
Conflict situations
- Never: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a year or more but not every month: 11.56%
- Once a month or more but not every week: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a week or more but not every day: 0.88%
- Every day: 1.41%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2026
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 30.69%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 42.3%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 6.21%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 19.39%
- Every day: 1.41%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2026
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 31.07%
- Fairly serious: 21.46%
- Serious: 6.94%
- Very serious: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Extremely serious: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2026
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O*NET-SOC 51-3011.00 · SOC 51-3011 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8