September 2009 

Occupational Employment 

Statistics (OES) Highlights

Industry focus — Food services and drinking places 

Americans rely daily on food services and drinking places for everything from a quick 

coffee break to social interactions and celebrations. All of this activity requires the 

services of many workers. In May 2008 this industry had over 9.6 million jobs (about 

7 percent of national employment), making it the third largest industry in the 

country. 

Mean hourly wages and percent of industry employment of the ten largest occupations in

food services and drinking places, May 2008

22.9%

21.2%

8.2%

6.3%

5.5%

4.7%

4.3%

3.9%

3.6%

3.3%

$0.00 $2.00 $4.00 $6.00 $8.00 $10.00 $12.00 $14.00

Combined food preparation and serving

workers, including fast food*

Waiters and waitresses*

Cooks, restaurant*

First‐line supervisors/managers of food

preparation and serving workers*

Cooks, fast food

Food preparation workers*

Dishwashers*

Bartenders*

Counter attendants, cafeteria, food

concession, and coffee shop*

Hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and

coffee shop*

Occupation

Hourly Mean Wage

Cross‐industry mean wage

Mean wage in food

services and drinking

places

Percent of food service and drinking places employment

*The difference between the occupation's cross‐industry mean wage and the occupation's mean wage in food services and drinking places is

statistically significant.

(See page 4 to view these data in table format.) 
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Although these establishments are ubiquitous in the American lifestyle, they are also 

low paying. Food services and drinking places pay average wages that are roughly 

half the national mean wage: the mean hourly wage for workers in this industry was 

$9.84 in May 2008, compared to the national mean hourly wage of $20.32. 

The industry’s low average wage is due to two factors: below-average wage rates for 

individual occupations, and the industry’s occupational mix. Workers in food services 

and drinking places can expect slightly lower mean wages than workers in the same 

occupation in other industries. For example, the ten largest occupations had mean 

wages between about 0.5 and 6.0 percent lower in this industry than in other 

industries, as illustrated in the chart above. This pattern also occurred among most 

occupations, including relatively higher paying occupations such as management. 

However, the main reason for the low overall industry mean wage was the 

predominance of low paying and low skilled occupations within this industry: about 

97 percent of industry employment was in occupations with mean wages below the 

national mean wage. The largest occupation in this industry, combined food 

preparation and serving workers, including fast food, made up 23 percent of industry 

employment and had a mean hourly wage of $8.07, while the second largest 

occupation, waiters and waitresses, with 21 percent of industry employment, had a 

mean hourly wage of $9.26, including tips. The higher paying occupations in this 

industry were mainly management occupations, such as food service managers and 

general and operations managers. Higher paying nonmanagement occupations had 

much lower employment. For example, dietitians and nutritionists had an hourly 

mean wage of $22.59 but had employment of 3,750, or about .04 percent of 

industry employment, and sales representatives, services, all other had an hourly 

mean wage of $27.42 but had employment of 2,950, or about .03 percent of 

industry employment. In general, these higher paying occupations required more 

formal training or experience than the majority of jobs in this industry. 

The food services and drinking places industries comprise full-service restaurants, 

limited-service eating places, special food services, and drinking places (alcoholic 

beverages). In terms of employment, full-service restaurants was the largest of 
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these four industries, making up 48 percent of total food services and drinking places 

employment, while limited-services eating places made up about 43 percent, special 

food services about 6 percent, and drinking places (alcoholic beverages) about 4 

percent. In terms of overall mean wages, all four industries were below the national 

average, but there were marked pay differences between them. Limited-service 

eating places had the lowest mean wage ($9.06), while special food services had the 

highest mean wage ($12.10), in part because individual occupations tended to have 

the highest mean wages in this industry. The other two industries, drinking places 

and full-service restaurants, had overall mean wages of $10.08 and $10.26, 

respectively. Mean wages of the same occupation varied among the four food 

services and drinking places industries, but the trend was for occupational wages to 

be lowest in limited-service eating places. For example, fast food cooks earned the 

highest mean wage ($9.56) in special food services and the lowest mean wage 

($8.37) in limited-service eating places. 

While the food services and drinking places industry made up 7 percent of national 

employment, its occupational composition was not very diverse, as seen in Table 1. 

This industry employed some of the largest and lowest paying occupations in the 

U.S., including combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food; 

waiters and waitresses; and food preparation workers, all shown in Table 1. Due to 

the higher replacement needs of jobs like these, and due to industry employment 

growth, job opportunities within the industry are projected to be very good for the 

period 2006-16, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Career Guide to 

Industries. 

The Career Guide to Industries can be found at www.bls.gov/oco/cg/home.htm. 

Detailed occupational employment and wage data for the food services and drinking 

places industry can be found at www.bls.gov/oes/2008/may/naics3_722000.htm. 

Complete OES data, including data for over 450 industries and industry 

aggregations, are available from the OES home page at www.bls.gov/oes/. This 

highlight was prepared by Rebecca Keller; for more information, please contact the 

OES program at www.bls.gov/oes/home.htm#contact. 
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Table 1. Average wages and employment of the 10 largest occupations 

in food services and drinking places, May 2008 

Occupation 

Industry 

Average 

Wage 

CrossIndustry 

Average Wage 

Industry 

employment 

Percent of 

industry 

employment 

All Occupations* $9.84 $20.32 9,663,520 100.0%

Combined food 

preparation and serving 

workers, including fast 

food* 8.07 8.36 2,208,340 22.9

Waiters and waitresses* 9.26 9.41 2,048,200 21.2

Cooks, restaurant* 10.73 10.94 788,800 8.2

First-line 

supervisors/managers of 

food preparation and 

serving workers* 14.39 14.81 611,810 6.3

Cooks, fast food 8.43 8.47 530,100 5.5

Food preparation workers* 8.97 9.54 458,490 4.7

Dishwashers* 8.36 8.54 418,110 4.3

Bartenders* 9.75 9.84 373,470 3.9

Counter attendants, 

cafeteria, food 

concession, and coffee 

shop* 8.67 8.90 348,630 3.6

Hosts and hostesses, 

restaurant, lounge, and 

coffee shop* 8.80 8.93 316,960 3.3

* Indicates that the difference between the industry wage and the cross-industry wage 

is statistically significant.

Table 2. Average wages and employment of the food services and 

drinking places industries, May 2008 

Industry 

Average 

Hourly 

Wage 

Industry 

Employment 

Percent of food service 

and drinking places 

employment 

Food services and drinking places $9.84 9,663,520 100.0%

Full Service Restaurants 10.26 4,597,110 47.6

Limited-service eating places 9.06 4,154,730 43.0

Special food services 12.10 559,760 5.8

Drinking places (alcoholic 

beverages) 10.08 351,920 3.6