Career Trends: Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations

This occupation supported 11,780,100 jobs in 2012 and 12,467,600 jobs in 2014, reflecting an increase of 5.8%. In 2012, this occupation was projected to increase by 9.4% in 2022 to 12,882,000 jobs. As of 2014, to keep pace with prediction, the expected number of jobs was 12,000,400, compared with an observed value of 12,467,600, 3.9% higher than expected. This indicates current employment trends are better than the 2012 trend within this occupation. In 2014, this occupation was projected to increase by 6.9% in 2024 to 13,280,400 jobs. Linear extrapolation of the 2012 projection for 2022 results in an expected number of 13,102,300 jobs for 2024, 1.3% lower than the 2014 projection for 2024. This indicates expectations for future employment trends are about on track with the 2012 trend within this occupation.