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Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders
Production · SOC 51-3093
0.0% AI Exposure — Low
$41,590
Median Annual Salary
Average
O*NET Outlook
5,700
Proj. Annual Openings
31,250
Employment (OEWS 2025)
+0.7%/yr
Empl. growth (2019–2025)
100/100
AI Resiliency Score
AI exposure from the Anthropic Economic Index (2025); salary from BLS; skills from O*NET. See /sources.
Decision card
Career Evidence Passport
SOC 51-3093 evidence across exposure, wages, projections, postings, certified LCAs, skills, and transitions.
Proxy / seed data labeledDescriptive-only
- SOC exposure
- 0.0%
- Low · Anthropic AEI
- Automation friction
- 52/100
- Moderate friction; broad SOC seed ORS job-requirements coverage.
- Wages
- $41,590
- No H-1B offered-wage row for this SOC.
- Projected openings
- 5,700
- BLS EP 2024–2034; employment change +0.6%.
- Observed/proxy demand
- 0
- FY2025 certified LCAs; 6,275 postings in 2025.
Skill evidence
Operations MonitoringReading ComprehensionMonitoringOperation and ControlActive Listening
Transition context
- H-1B values are certified Labor Condition Applications, not visa approvals.
- Job postings are seed-static / seed-derived; treat as provider-ready proxy coverage until observed provider data is wired in.
- Transition matches are directional skill-overlap context, not placement guarantees.
- This release is a FutureGrid broad-SOC seed derived from public BLS ORS requirement concepts and categories, not direct occupation-level ORS survey estimates. It describes job requirements, not worker ability, AI capability, or displacement probability. Automation friction is a FutureGrid derived score and should be read alongside exposure, demand, wage, and projection signals.
AI Exposure Analysis
AI Exposure0.0%
AI Resiliency100/100
Exposure BandLow
Sector Avg. Exposure0.7%
Across AI measures
Multiple exposure lenses for this occupation.
21.1%
Consensus
Actual adoption · Anthropic0%
AI capability · OpenAI12.9%
AI ability · AIOE50.4%
Automation baseline (2013) · Frey & Osborne61%
Top Skills
1.Operations Monitoring
2.Reading Comprehension
3.Monitoring
4.Operation and Control
5.Active Listening
H-1B Visa Sponsorship Demand
View full H-1B trends →Certified H-1B Labor Condition Applications naming this occupation, FY2016–FY2025. A descriptive high-skill labor-demand signal — employer filings, not visa approvals or individual outcomes. Note: one LCA can cover multiple worker positions.
1
Decade Total (Certified LCAs)
0
FY2025 Volume
0% of all H-1B filings in FY2025
$0
Median Offered Wage (Latest Year)
#737 of 776
Rank by Total Volume
O*NET occupation profile
What this work involves
Operate or tend cooking equipment, such as steam cooking vats, deep fry cookers, pressure cookers, kettles, and boilers, to prepare food products.
Common titles: Cooker Operator, Food Production Worker, Fryer Operator, Kettle Fry Cook Operator, Machine Operator, Mogul Operator
Representative Tasks
- •Clean, wash, and sterilize equipment and cooking area, using water hoses, cleaning or sterilizing solutions, or rinses.
- •Read work orders, recipes, or formulas to determine cooking times and temperatures, and ingredient specifications.
- •Observe gauges, dials, and product characteristics, and adjust controls to maintain appropriate temperature, pressure, and flow of ingredients.
- •Measure or weigh ingredients, using scales or measuring containers.
- •Tend or operate and control equipment, such as kettles, cookers, vats and tanks, and boilers, to cook ingredients or prepare products for further processing.
Detailed Work Activities
- •Clean work areas.
- •Sterilize food cooking or processing equipment.
- •Read work orders or other instructions to determine product specifications or materials requirements.
- •Review blueprints or other instructions to determine operational methods or sequences.
- •Adjust equipment controls to regulate flow of production materials or products.
Tools & Technologies
Database software
Related Occupations
Food Batchmakers · BrightFood and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and TendersSeparating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and TendersCooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders · BrightCleaning, Washing, and Metal Pickling Equipment Operators and Tenders
Employment Projections & AI Exposure
15
Occupations Shown
0.5%
Avg AI Exposure
1
Bright Outlook
Horizontal bar chart showing occupations with the highest projected annual openings. Each bar length represents annual projected openings. Color uses a gradient from violet (lower) to cyan (higher). Summary statistics are shown above the chart.
Employment & Wage Trend
BLS OEWS, 2019–2025
Multi-year BLS OEWS history for SOC 51-3093: 2019 — employment: 30,030, median wage: $31,110; 2020 — employment: 26,530, median wage: $33,010; 2021 — employment: 26,710, median wage: $35,890; 2022 — employment: 26,740, median wage: $36,700; 2023 — employment: 29,730, median wage: $38,550; 2025 — employment: 31,250, median wage: $41,590.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). See /sources.
Sector Comparison
| Metric | This Career | Sector Average |
|---|---|---|
| AI Exposure | 0.0% | 0.7% |
| Outlook | Average | 4% Bright |
| Median Salary | $41,590 | N/A |
| AI Resiliency | 100/100 | N/A |