Cutters and Trimmers, Hand vs Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers: Similar Pay, -18.9% vs 5.7% Growth

Cutters and Trimmers, Hand vs Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers: what changes?

Consider Cutters and Trimmers, Hand if you want to use hand tools or hand-held power tools to cut and trim a variety of manufactured items, such as carpet, fabric, stone, glass, or rubber. Consider Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers if you would rather use hands or hand tools to perform routine cutting and trimming of meat, poultry, and seafood. Both list no formal educational credential; compare training and prior experience separately.

Try this next: Compare three local entry-level postings for Cutters and Trimmers, Hand and Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers. List the duties, credentials, prior experience, and paid training each employer actually asks for. Try a supervised class or sample project from each field before choosing a program.

BLS 2025 wages and 2025–2035 projections. National medians are not starting offers. Occupation size is not a count of vacancies. View the BLS data.

Compare the practical differences

Cutters and Trimmers, Hand

National median pay (2025): $38,020
Route into the job: No formal educational credential; One month or less of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing
Prior related experience: No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.
Training and licensing: One month or less of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing.
Work to investigate: Mark or discard items with defects such as spots, stains, scars, snags, chips, scratches, or unacceptable shapes or finishes.
Annual openings (2025–2035): 500

Know before you choose

BLS projects employment to shrink 18.9% from 2025 to 2035. Openings can still occur when existing workers leave.

See the full Cutters and Trimmers, Hand brief

Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers

National median pay (2025): $38,300
Route into the job: No formal educational credential; One month or less of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing
Prior related experience: No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.
Training and licensing: One month or less of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing.
Work to investigate: Use knives, cleavers, meat saws, bandsaws, or other equipment to perform meat cutting and trimming.
Annual openings (2025–2035): 17,000

Know before you choose

Long periods of standing are part of the normal workday.

See the full Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers brief

How the national numbers differ

Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers has the edge on annual openings

Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers is at 17,000 annual openings, compared with 500 annual openings for Cutters and Trimmers, Hand.

Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers has the edge on projected growth

Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers is at 5.7% projected growth, compared with -18.9% projected growth for Cutters and Trimmers, Hand.

National pay benchmarks are very similar.

Compare actual offers, expected paid hours, schedule, and benefits before treating either career as the higher-paying option.

17.5/ 100

Cutters and Trimmers, Hand

56.3/ 100

Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers

Each available metric is ranked from 0 to 100 against the careers on ChooseField. The weighted average uses this profile: pay 30%, growth 25%, openings 30%, preparation level 15%. Missing values are not scored as zero; their weights are redistributed across available metrics. Occupation size has zero weight: employment is not accessible vacancies. Preparation categories do not measure admission difficulty or years without earnings. The score summarizes national measures; local opportunities and personal fit still need separate consideration.

Detailed evidence

Cutters and Trimmers, Hand vs Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers

Dimension	Cutters and Trimmers, Hand	Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers
Median pay (2025)	$38,020	$38,300
Pay percentile	8.3 percentile	9.3 percentile
Projected growth (2025–2035)	-18.9%	5.7%
Annual openings (2025–2035)	500	17,000
2025 employment	5,900	149,800
How you qualify	No formal educational credential; One month or less of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing	No formal educational credential; One month or less of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing
O*NET preparation group	Job Zone 2	Job Zone 2
Related work experience	No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.	No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.
On-the-job training	One month or less of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing.	One month or less of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing.

The table reports national benchmarks and reviewed work descriptions. It does not rate personal suitability, job security, or physical safety.

Read Cutters and Trimmers, Hand brief Read Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers brief

Cutters and Trimmers, Hand vs Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers: what changes?

The facts most likely to affect your decision

Cutters and Trimmers, Hand

Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers

How the national numbers differ

Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers has the edge on annual openings

Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers has the edge on projected growth

National pay benchmarks are very similar.

Cutters and Trimmers, Hand vs Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers

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