> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.investigatemidwest.org/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# GRAPHIC: Meat and poultry production workers make up largest share of US food and beverage workforce
- URL: https://www.investigatemidwest.org/graphic-meat-and-poultry-production-workers-make-up-largest-share-of-us-food-and-beverage-workforce/
- Published: 2023-03-29T20:36:24.000Z
- Updated: 2023-03-29T20:36:24.000Z
- Description: Of the 1.7 million workers in the industry, 30.6% labor in meatpacking, according to 2021 data.
- Author: Suzanne Behnke, Investigate Midwest
- Tags: Meat industry, Data Harvest, National, TP::Explainer, meatpacking, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-06-18 04:56

There are roughly 520,000 workers who help put packages of chicken breasts, pork and ground beef on grocery store shelves.

Within the U.S. manufacturing sector, food and beverage manufacturing employees make up the biggest share — 15.4%, according to the most recent [federal data](https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/chart-gallery/gallery/chart-detail/?chartId=106049&ref=investigatemidwest.org#:~:text=Meat%20and%20poultry%20plants%20employed,of%20all%20U.S.%20nonfarm%20employment).

In 2021, 30.6% of that 1.7 million contributed to meat and poultry production, according to the most recent federal data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. (This number includes nonproduction workers, too.)

“These employees helped to transform raw agricultural materials into food products for intermediate use or final consumption,” the report said.

The second-largest share of food and beverage workers support bakeries and tortilla production: 14.7% (or more than 249,000 workers) help in the making of these products.

“In 2021, agriculture, food, and related industries contributed 5.4 percent to U.S. gross domestic product,” according to [USDA’s Ag and Food Statistics: Charting the Essentials](https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/ag-and-food-statistics-charting-the-essentials/ag-and-food-sectors-and-the-economy/?ref=investigatemidwest.org) report.