Poultry Process Workers

ANZSCO ID 831312

Overview

Snapshot

Employed
6,300
Future Growth
N/A
Weekly Earnings
N/A
Full-Time Share
73%
Female Share
36%
Average age
38

Summary

Poultry Process Workers stun and kill, dress, trim, cut into portions, bone, fillet, weigh, grade and package poultry.

Specialisations: Poultry Boner, Poultry Slaughterer.

Formal qualifications are not usually required to work as a Poultry Process Worker. Some workers have a certificate I or II in meat processing.

Tasks

  • Moving carcasses to chillers and freezers.

  • Loading meat products into trucks.

  • Packing boned and sliced meat into cartons.

  • Stunning and shackling poultry for killing and processing.

  • Severing jugular veins of poultry, and removing viscera and residual material from poultry carcasses.

  • Separating organs and glands, such as sweetbreads, livers, hearts and spleens, from poultry carcasses.

  • Inspecting and grading poultry for size and quality.

  • Packing.

  • Operating machines which slice, peel, skin and crumb.

  • Cleaning and sanitising equipment and work areas.

Characteristics

Job Type
Labourers
Skill Level
Entry level
ANZSCO Occupation group
Unemployment Rate
n/a
Industries
Pathway(s)
  • Vocational Education and Training (VET)
  • Informal or on-the-job
Interests
  • Practical
  • Administrative
Physical Demand
  • Medium

Outlook

Employment Outlook

JSA produces employment projections to show where likely future job opportunities may be. Employment projections data are only produced for occupations at the broad four digit Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) level. While data are not available for this occupation, projections data are available for the parent occupation, Meat, Poultry and Seafood Process Workers, under the outlook section.


Earnings and hours

Working arrangements

  • Around 73% of people employed as Poultry Process Workers work full-time hours, in all their jobs combined. This is 7 percentage points above the all jobs average (66%).

    Full-time workers work an average of 40 hours per week in their main job. This is 4 hours less than the all jobs average (44 hours per week).

    Sources:Full-time share and full-time hours: ABS, 2016 Census, customised report. Compared to the all jobs average.


Industries

Main industries

1
Manufacturing
75.2%
2
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
11.7%
3
Retail Trade
2.2%
4
Wholesale Trade
2.2%
5
Other industries
2.6%

Regions

Employment across Australia

NSW

32.4% All occupations: 31.6%

VIC

21.3% All occupations: 25.6%

QLD

22.1% All occupations: 20.0%

SA

16.0% All occupations: 7.0%

WA

6.3% All occupations: 10.8%

TAS

1.9% All occupations: 2.0%

NT

0.0% All occupations: 1.0%

ACT

0.1% All occupations: 1.9%

Employment by State and Territory (% Share)

State Poultry Process Workers All Jobs Average
NSW 32.4 31.6
VIC 21.3 25.6
QLD 22.1 20.0
SA 16.0 7.0
WA 6.3 10.8
TAS 1.9 2.0
NT 0.0 1.0
ACT 0.1 1.9



Worker profile

Age and gender

Age In Years
38
All Jobs Average is 40
Female Share
36%
All Jobs Average is 48%
  • The median age of Poultry Process Workers is 38 years. This is similar to the all jobs average of 40 years.

    A large share of workers are aged 25 to 34 years.

    Females make up 36% of the workforce. This is 12 percentage points below the all jobs average of 48%.

    Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Age profile and gender share compared to the all jobs average.

Age Profile (% Share)

Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Age profile of workers in this job compared to the all jobs average.
Age Bracket Poultry Process Workers All Jobs Average
15-19 2.3 5.0
20-24 11.3 9.3
25-34 28.6 22.9
35-44 24.6 22.0
45-54 21.3 21.6
55-59 7.5 9.0
60-64 3.4 6.0
65 and Over 1.1 4.2
Median Age 38 40

Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Age profile of workers in this job compared to the all jobs average.


Employment Pathways

Education, training and experience

Formal qualifications are not usually required to work as a Poultry Process Worker. Some workers have a certificate I or II in meat processing.

Visit

  • My Skills to compare Vocational Education and Training (VET) courses, providers and student outcomes.
  • AAPathways website to explore Australian Meat Processing and Seafood Industry VET training pathways.

Highest Level of Education (% Share)

Source: ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Highest qualification completed by workers in this job (in any field of study). Qualifications needed by new workers might be different from the qualifications of workers already in the job.
Type of Qualification Poultry Process Workers All Jobs Average
Post Graduate/Graduate Diploma or Graduate Certificate 2.1 10.1
Bachelor degree 7.2 21.8
Advanced Diploma/Diploma 4.7 11.6
Certificate III/IV 12.4 21.1
Year 12 28.8 18.1
Year 11 7.6 4.8
Year 10 and below 37.1 12.5

Source: ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Highest qualification completed by workers in this job (in any field of study). Qualifications needed by new workers might be different from the qualifications of workers already in the job.


Skills and Knowledge

Employers look for Meat, Poultry and Seafood Process Workers who are reliable physically fit and have a good work ethic.

Skills

Skills can be improved through training or experience.

  • 36%

    Active listening

    Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.

  • 34%

    Speaking

    Talking to others.

  • 34%

    Coordination with others

    Being adaptable and coordinating work with other people.

  • 29%

    Critical thinking

    Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.

  • 29%

    Operation monitoring

    Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.

  • 29%

    Complex problem solving

    Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.

  • 27%

    Monitoring

    Keeping track of how well work is progressing so you can make changes or improvements.

  • 27%

    Social perceptiveness

    Understanding why people react the way they do.

  • 27%

    Judgment and decision making

    Figuring out the pros and cons of different options and choosing the best one.

  • 25%

    Operation and control

    Controlling equipment or systems.

  • 23%

    Time management

    Managing your own and other peoples' time to get work done.

  • 23%

    Instructing

    Teaching people how to do something.

  • 23%

    Quality control analysis

    Doing tests and checking products, services, or processes to make sure they are working properly.

  • 21%

    Active learning

    Being able to use what you have learnt to solve problems now and again in the future.

  • 21%

    Management of personnel resources

    Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, and choosing the best people for the job.

  • 21%

    Negotiation

    Bringing people together and trying to sort out their differences.

  • 21%

    Reading comprehension

    Reading work related information.

  • 21%

    Serving others

    Looking for ways to help people.

  • 20%

    Persuasion

    Talking people into changing their minds or their behaviour.

  • 14%

    Mathematics

    Using maths to solve problems.


Knowledge

These are important topics, subjects or knowledge areas.

  • 49%

    Education and training

    Curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

  • 41%

    Food production

    Planting, growing, and harvesting food (both plant and animal), including storage and handling.

  • 40%

    Mechanical

    Machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.

  • 38%

    Chemistry

    Chemical composition, structure, and properties. How chemicals are made, used, mixed, and can change.

  • 37%

    Production and processing

    Raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and ways of making and distributing goods.

  • 36%

    Public safety and security

    Use of equipment, rules and ideas to protect people, data, property, and institutions.

  • 29%

    Administration and management

    Business principles involved in strategic planning, leadership, and coordinating people and resources.

  • 27%

    Transportation

    Moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road.

  • 24%

    Psychology

    Human behaviour; differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; research methods; assessing and treating disorders.

  • 21%

    Mathematics

    Arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, or statistics.

  • 21%

    Biology

    Plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, how they rely on and work with each other and the environment.

  • 20%

    English language

    English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

  • 18%

    Clerical

    Word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office work.

  • 18%

    Therapy and counselling

    Diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and career counselling and guidance.

  • 18%

    Sales and marketing

    Showing, promoting, and selling including marketing strategy, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

  • 18%

    Customer and personal service

    Understanding customer needs, providing good quality service, and measuring customer satisfaction.

  • 14%

    Physics

    The physical laws of matter, motion and energy, and how they interact through space and time.

  • 13%

    Law and government

    How our laws and courts work. Government rules and regulations, and the political system.

  • 13%

    Medicine and dentistry

    Diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities, including preventive health-care measures.

  • 11%

    Personnel and human resources

    Recruiting and training people, managing pay and other entitlements (like sick leave), and negotiating pay and conditions.


Abilities

Workers use these physical and mental abilities..

  • 45%

    Arm-hand steadiness

    Keep your hand or arm steady.

  • 45%

    Finger dexterity

    Put together small parts with your fingers.

  • 45%

    Manual dexterity

    Quickly move your hand to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.

  • 43%

    Static strength

    Lift, push, pull, or carry things.

  • 41%

    Control precision

    Quickly change the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.

  • 41%

    Oral comprehension

    Listen to and understand what people say.

  • 41%

    Trunk strength

    Use your abdominal and lower back muscles a number of times without 'giving out' or fatiguing.

  • 39%

    Near vision

    See details that are up-close (within a few feet).

  • 39%

    Reaction time

    Quickly move your hand, finger, or foot when a sound, light, picture or something else appears.

  • 38%

    Extent flexibility

    Bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.

  • 38%

    Multilimb coordination

    Use your arms and/or legs at the same time while sitting, standing, or lying down.

  • 38%

    Oral expression

    Communicate by speaking.

  • 38%

    Problem spotting

    Notice when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong, even if you can't solve the problem.

  • 36%

    Sorting or ordering

    Order or arrange things in a pattern or sequence (e.g., numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).

  • 36%

    Selective attention

    Pay attention to something without being distracted.

  • 34%

    Categorising

    Come up with different ways of grouping things.

  • 34%

    Speech clarity

    Speak clearly so others can understand you.

  • 32%

    Speech recognition

    Identify and understand the speech of another person.

  • 30%

    Inductive reasoning

    Use lots of detailed information to come up with answers or make general rules.

  • 29%

    Deductive reasoning

    Use general rules to find answers or solve problems logically.


Activities

These are kinds of activities workers regularly do in this job.

  • 78%

    Handling and moving objects

    Using hands and arms in handling, installing, positioning, moving and manipulating objects.

  • 60%

    Doing physically active work

    Use your arms, legs and whole body, such as climbing, lifting, balancing, walking, stooping, and handling objects.

  • 54%

    Checking for errors or defects

    Inspecting equipment, structures, or materials for errors, problems or defects.

  • 52%

    Controlling equipment or machines

    Operating machines or processes either directly or using controls (not including computers or vehicles).

  • 52%

    Planning and prioritising work

    Deciding on goals and putting together a detailed plan to get the work done.

  • 51%

    Monitoring people, processes and things

    Checking objects, actions, or events, and keeping an eye out for problems.

  • 47%

    Making decisions and solving problems

    Using information to work out the best solution and solve problems.

  • 45%

    Communicating within a team

    Giving information to co-workers by telephone, in writing, or in person.

  • 44%

    Explaining things to people

    Helping people to understand and use information.

  • 43%

    Assessing and evaluating things

    Working out the value, importance, or quality of things, services or people.

  • 41%

    Building good relationships

    Building good working relationships and keeping them over time.

  • 40%

    Estimating amounts, costs and resources

    Working out sizes, distances, amounts, time, costs, resources, or materials needed for a task.

  • 39%

    Coordinating the work of a team

    Getting members of a group to work together to finish a task.

  • 38%

    Training and teaching others

    Understanding the needs of others, developing training programs, and teaching or instructing.

  • 36%

    Checking compliance with standards

    Deciding whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards.

  • 35%

    Collecting and organising information

    Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or checking information or data.

  • 35%

    Helping and caring for others

    Providing personal assistance, medical attention, or emotional support.

  • 34%

    Leading and encouraging a team

    Encouraging and building trust, respect, and cooperation among team members.

  • 33%

    Negotiating and resolving conflicts

    Handling complaints and disagreements, and negotiating with people.

  • 32%

    Researching and investigating

    Looking for, getting and understanding different kinds of information.


Interests and demands

Learn about the daily activities, and physical and social demands faced by workers. Explore the values and work styles that workers rate as most important.

Interests

Interests are the style or type of work we prefer to do. All interest areas are shown below.

  • 100%

    Practical

    Practical, hands-on work. Often with plants and animals, or materials like wood, tools, and machinery.

  • 71%

    Administrative

    Following set procedures and routines. Working with numbers and details more than with ideas, usually following rules.

  • 38%

    Enterprising

    Starting up and carrying out projects. Leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes require risk taking and often deal with business.

  • 29%

    Analytical

    Ideas and thinking. Searching for facts and figuring out problems in your head.

  • 24%

    Creative

    Working with forms, designs and patterns. Often need self-expression and can be done without following rules.

  • 14%

    Helping

    Working with people. Helping or providing service to others.


Values

Work values are important to a person’s feeling of satisfaction. All six values are shown below.
  • 62%

    Relationships

    Serve and work with others. Workers usually get along well with each other, do things to help other people, and are rarely pressured to do things that go against their sense of right and wrong.

  • 62%

    Support

    Supportive management that stands behind employees. Workers are treated fairly by their company, they are supported by management, and have supervisors who train them well.

  • 29%

    Independence

    Work alone and make decisions. Workers are able to try out their own ideas, make decisions on their own, and work with little or no supervision.

  • 24%

    Achievement

    Results oriented. Workers are able to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment.

  • 21%

    Working conditions

    Job security and good working conditions. There is usually a steady flow of interesting work, and the pay and conditions are generally good.

  • 19%

    Recognition

    Advancement and the potential to lead. Workers are recognised for the work that they do, they may give directions and instructions to others, and they are looked up to in their company and their community.


Demands

The physical and social demands that workers face most often are shown below:
  • 97%

    Spend time standing

    Spend time standing at work.

  • 96%

    Wear common protective or safety equipment

    Wear equipment like safety shoes, glasses, gloves, hard hats or life jackets.

  • 91%

    Loud or uncomfortable sounds

    Be exposed to noises and sounds that are distracting or uncomfortable.

  • 90%

    Using your hands to handle, control, or feel

    Spend time using your hands to handle, control, or feel objects, tools or controls.

  • 88%

    Time pressure

    Work to strict deadlines.

  • 87%

    Making repetitive motions

    Spend time making repetitive motions.

  • 87%

    Minor burns, cuts, bites, or stings

    Be exposed to minor burns, cuts, bites, or stings.

  • 87%

    Very hot or cold temperatures

    Work in very hot or cold temperatures.

  • 85%

    Being exact or accurate

    Be very exact or highly accurate.

  • 83%

    Indoors, heat controlled

    Work indoors with access to heating or cooling.

  • 80%

    Bending or twisting your body

    Spend time bending or twisting your body.

  • 80%

    Exposure to contaminants

    Be exposed to pollutants, gases, dust or odours.

  • 80%

    Frequent decision making

    Frequently make decisions that impact other people.

  • 78%

    Pace of work set by equipment

    Pace of work depends on the speed of equipment or machinery.

  • 77%

    Contact with people

    Have contact with people by telephone, face-to-face, or any other way.

  • 75%

    Physically close to people

    Work physically close to other people.

  • 73%

    Dangerous equipment

    Work near dangerous equipment like saws, machinery with open moving parts, or moving traffic.

  • 71%

    Face-to-face discussions

    Talk with people face-to-face.

  • 68%

    Walking and running

    Spend time walking and running.

  • 67%

    Freedom to make decisions

    Have freedom to make decision on your own.

Occupational Information Network
O*NET is a trademark of the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration.
The skills and importance ratings on this page are derived from the US Department of Labor O*NET Database Version 21.2, 51-3023.00 - Slaughterers and Meat Packers.


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