Slaughterers and Meat Packers
Perform nonroutine or precision functions involving the preparation of large portions of meat. Work may include specialized slaughtering tasks, cutting standard or premium cuts of meat for marketing, making sausage, or wrapping meats. Work typically occurs in slaughtering, meat packing, or wholesale establishments.
Most important skills
- Speaking
- Active Listening
- Critical Thinking
- Social Perceptiveness
- Monitoring
- Operations Monitoring
- Operation and Control
- Troubleshooting
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- Food Production
- Production and Processing
- English Language
- Law and Government
- Mathematics
- Administrative
- Administration and Management
What the work involves
- Remove bones, and cut meat into standard cuts in preparation for marketing.
- Cut, trim, skin, sort, and wash viscera of slaughtered animals to separate edible portions from offal.
- Slit open, eviscerate, and trim carcasses of slaughtered animals.
- Tend assembly lines, performing a few of the many cuts needed to process a carcass.
- Sever jugular veins to drain blood and facilitate slaughtering.
- Shave or singe and defeather carcasses, and wash them in preparation for further processing or packaging.
- Trim, clean, or cure animal hides.
- Shackle hind legs of animals to raise them for slaughtering or skinning.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (60.8% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (33.7%)
- On-the-job training
- Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month (25%)
- 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 Slaughterers and Meat Packers 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 | Low | Lower on contact with others than 79% of occupations compared | 60% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Moderate | Lower on dealing with the public than 55% of occupations compared | 33% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | High | Higher on teamwork than 76% of occupations compared | 62% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 96% of occupations compared | 36% of surveyed respondents chose “No freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very low | Lower on time pressure than 94% of occupations compared | 30% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Conflict situations | Very low | Lower on conflict situations than 99% of occupations compared | 51% of surveyed respondents chose “Never” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very low | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 90% of occupations compared | 55% of surveyed respondents chose “Never” |
| Consequence of error | High | Higher on consequence of error than 72% of occupations compared | 49% of surveyed respondents chose “Serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very low
- Conflict situations: very low
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very low
- Consequence of error: high
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: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 31.11%
- Contact with others about half the time: 5.34%
- Contact with others most of the time: 3.06%
- Constant contact with others: 60.49%
n = 16, Incumbent 07/2017
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 28.19%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 18.71%
- Very important: 20.17%
- Extremely important: 32.93%
n = 16, Incumbent 07/2017
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 6.12%
- Very important: 31.84%
- Extremely important: 62.04%
n = 16, Incumbent 07/2017
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 35.85%
- Very little freedom: 3.93%
- Limited freedom: 0%
- Some freedom: 32.68%
- A lot of freedom: 27.54%
n = 16, Incumbent 07/2017
Time pressure
- Never: 27.62%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 7.66%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 30.43%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 8.4%
- Every day: 25.89%
n = 16, Incumbent 07/2017
Conflict situations
- Never: 50.64%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 30.3%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 17.65%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 0%
- Every day: 1.41%
n = 16, Incumbent 07/2017
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 54.7%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 10.91%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 18.15%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 5.77%
- Every day: 10.47%
n = 16, Incumbent 07/2017
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 11.29%
- Fairly serious: 1.41%
- Serious: 48.57%
- Very serious: 0%
- Extremely serious: 38.73%
n = 16, Incumbent 07/2017
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O*NET-SOC 51-3023.00 · SOC 51-3023 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8