Institutional Food Workers

Types of Degrees Institutional Food Workers Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many institutional food workers graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Basic Certificate	128
Associate Degree	46
Undergraduate Certificate	30

What Institutional Food Workers Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, institutional food workers majors were asked to rate what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important in their occupations. These answers were weighted on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most important.

Knowledge Areas for Institutional Food Workers Majors

This major prepares you for careers in which these knowledge areas are important:

• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Food Production - Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

Skills for Institutional Food Workers Majors

When studying institutional food workers, you’ll learn many skills that will help you be successful in a wide range of jobs - even those that do not require a degree in the field. The following is a list of some of the most common skills needed for careers associated with this major:

• Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
• Operation Monitoring - Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Quality Control Analysis - Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.

Abilities for Institutional Food Workers Majors

A major in institutional food workers will prepare for your careers in which the following abilities are important:

• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Category Flexibility - The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
• Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.

What Can You Do With a Institutional Food Workers Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with institutional food workers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria	7.7%	$26,860

Who Is Getting an Associate’s Degree in Institutional Food Workers?

This major is dominated by women with about 57% of recent graduates being female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of institutional food workers majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	0
Black or African American	8
Hispanic or Latino	1
White	31
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	6

How Much Do Institutional Food Workers Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

Institutional Food Workers majors often go into careers with median salaries of $28,290. This median refers to all degree levels, so you may expect those with a more advanced degree to make more while those with less advanced degrees will typically make less.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Institutional Food Workers

Some careers associated with institutional food workers require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. In general, the more advanced your degree the more career options will open up to you. However, there is significant time and money that needs to be invested into your education so weigh the pros and cons.

How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to institutional food workers have obtained the following education levels.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	2.0%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	73.0%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	14.6%
Some College Courses	6.0%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	0.1%
Bachelor’s Degree	7.0%

Online Institutional Food Workers Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	14	0
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	7	0
Bachelor’s Degree	0	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	0	0
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Is a Degree in Institutional Food Workers Worth It?

The median salary for a institutional food workers grad is $28,290 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

Trades Related to Institutional Food Workers

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to institutional food workers.

Major	Number of Grads
Culinary Arts/Chef Training	10,546
Baking & Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef	5,029
General Cooking & Related Culinary Arts	3,303
Restaurant, Culinary, & Catering Management/Manager	1,394
Food Preparation/Professional Cooking/Kitchen Assistant	786
Other Culinary Arts & Related Services	335
Culinary Science/Culinology	203
Bartending/Bartender	157
Food Service, Waiter/Waitress, & Dining Room Management/Manager	82
Meat Cutting/Meat Cutter	28
Wine Steward/Sommelier	8

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
• Image Credit: By U.S. Army Europe Images under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.