Butchers and Meat Cutters

Cut, trim, or prepare consumer-sized portions of meat for use or sale in retail establishments.

The occupation "Butchers and Meat Cutters" has an automation risk of 38.2%, reflecting a moderate likelihood of automation in the near future. The base risk for this occupation is slightly higher at 38.6%, indicating that certain aspects of the job are more susceptible to automation than others. Advances in robotics, machine vision, and automated packaging systems are key drivers behind this risk. Many routine and repetitive tasks performed by butchers can be mechanized, leading to increased efficiency and consistency in meat processing environments. However, full automation is not currently feasible for every aspect of the occupation, keeping the risk below 50%. The three most automatable tasks for butchers and meat cutters involve activities that are already being partially replaced by machines in large-scale operations. "Preparing and placing meat cuts and products in display counters to appear attractive and catch the shopper's eye" is increasingly being handled by automated display systems. "Wrapping, weighing, labeling, and pricing cuts of meat" are routine activities that technology can perform with precision and speed. Additionally, tasks such as "cutting, trimming, boning, tying, and grinding meats" are performed by advanced meat-processing machines, especially in commercial meatpacking facilities. These tasks are repetitive, largely predictable, and require less flexibility, making them prime candidates for further automation. In contrast, the tasks most resistant to automation require higher-level cognitive and interpersonal skills. "Negotiating with representatives from supply companies to determine order details" demands complex decision-making and communication abilities that AI and robots struggle to replicate. "Curing, smoking, tenderizing, and preserving meat" involves a level of expertise, judgment, and adaptation to environmental factors that are hard to automate effectively. "Supervising other butchers or meat cutters" includes responsibilities tied to human management, training, and resolving workplace issues, further limiting the role of automation. The key bottleneck skills—particularly originality at both 2.1% and 2.0%—underscore the human capacity for creative problem-solving and innovative thinking, skills that are difficult for machines to mimic reliably. This reliance on human ingenuity and oversight acts as a significant barrier against the complete automation of the profession.