Table 3 shows that production workers in food manufacturing averaged $12.54 an hour, compared with $14.95 per hour for all workers in private industry in 2002. Weekly earnings among food manufacturing workers, were lower than average, $497 compared with $506 for all workers in private industry in 2002. Food manufacturing workers averaged about 39.6 hours a week, compared with only 33.9 for all workers in the private sector. Weekly earnings ranged from $334 in seafood product preparation and packaging plants to $802 in grain and oilseed milling plants. Hours worked play a large part in determining earnings. For example, grain- and oilseed-milling workers, who averaged 44.2 hours a week, had higher hourly and weekly earnings than did workers in bakeries and tortilla manufacturing companies, who averaged 36.8 hours a week. Earnings in selected occupations in food manufacturing appear in table 4.
Table 3. Average earnings of production or nonsupervisory workers in food manufacturing by industry segment, 2002
| Industry segment |
Weekly |
Hourly |
| |
|
|
| Total, private industry |
$506 |
$14.95 |
| |
|
|
| Food manufacturing |
497 |
12.54 |
Grain and oilseed milling |
802 |
18.14 |
Beverages |
684 |
17.38 |
Dairy products |
639 |
15.83 |
Sugar and confectionery products |
597 |
15.08 |
Fruit and vegetable preserving and specialty |
514 |
12.83 |
Other food products |
503 |
12.77 |
Bakeries and tortilla manufacturing |
453 |
12.30 |
Animal slaughtering and processing |
442 |
10.91 |
Seafood product preparation and packaging |
334 |
9.70 |
Table 4. Median hourly earnings of the largest occupations in food manufacturing, 2002
| Occupation |
Food manufacturing |
All industries |
| First-line supervisors/managers of production and operating workers |
$18.78 |
$20.64 |
| Industrial truck and tractor operators |
12.67 |
12.54 |
| Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders |
11.07 |
10.20 |
| Food batchmakers |
10.99 |
10.54 |
| Bakers |
10.54 |
9.89 |
| Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand |
10.11 |
9.48 |
| Helpers--production workers |
10.11 |
9.25 |
| Slaughterers and meat packers |
9.80 |
9.79 |
| Packers and packagers, hand |
9.15 |
8.03 |
| Meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers |
8.47 |
8.57 |
In 2002, about 18 percent of workers in the food manufacturing industry belonged to a union or were covered by a union contract, compared with about 15 percent of all workers in the private sector. Prominent unions in the industry include the United Food and Commercial Workers; the International Brotherhood of Teamsters; and the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union.
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