Slaughterers and Meat Packers
Production
The work takes place in slaughtering, meat packing, or wholesale plants and includes stunning animals, shackling hind legs to raise them, draining blood, skinning, and opening and eviscerating carcasses. Bones come out and meat is cut into standard or premium market cuts; some of the work also includes making sausage or wrapping meat. On a line, the same few cuts are often repeated on each carcass. Viscera are cut, trimmed, sorted, and washed so edible parts are separated from offal. A better match for people who can handle slaughter and carcass work, keep a steady line pace, and follow a set sequence of cuts.
Typical education: High School Diploma or GED
Annual Median Wage in Field (2025)
$40'130
Median Wage Market Position
$40'130
What you might do
- Cut carcasses into standard market portions
- Remove bones from large pieces of meat
- Open carcasses and take out the organs
- Stun animals before slaughtering them
- Skin whole animals or animal sections
- Sort edible organs from waste parts
Skills that matter
- Cutting carcasses into standard market cuts
- Deciding where to bone and trim
- Keeping pace on the cutting line
- Listening for cues from nearby workers
- Coordinating stun, shackle, and skinning steps
- Spotting trouble in carcass flow or equipment
AI & the future of this role
Specialized cutting, carcass handling, and plant-floor judgment still rely on skilled hands in messy, variable conditions. Packaging and some portioning may automate further, yet sanitation rules and physical demands keep much of the work hard to remove.
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Includes O*NET® 30.3 Database information by USDOL/ETA under CC BY 4.0; modified by LostInCareer. Wage/outlook from BLS. Attribution details