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PERM Tracker

All occupations · #38 of 1,410 by volume

Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers

SOC 51-3022, in the production major group. 1,797 PERM filings in DOL's current disclosure window, 1,765 certified and 14 denied.

Median wage

$23,733

all PERM $103,272

Filings

1,797

#38 of 1,410

Approval

99.2%

field 96.8%

Median days

383

94 faster than the field

Fig 01 Position in the field 535 occupations with 30+ decided

Median offered wage

$23,733above 3%

$18k $500k

Approval rate

99.2%ahead of 87%

49% 100%

Median days to decision

383 daysahead of 92%

323d 536d
Each bar counts occupations at that value. PERM runs two labour markets through one process, which is why the wage axis is two humps rather than a bell. The line marks this one. DOL PERM disclosure files
Fig 03 The same job, state by state 2 states filing enough of this occupation to publish a ladder
  • 5th to 95th
  • 25th to 75th
  • Median
  • 10th and 90th

  1. GA

    $23,733 median · 956 certified cases

  2. NE

    $41,600 median · 297 certified cases

$20k$30k$40k$50k
One SOC code, one federal process, and a wage range that moves with the state. A state is included only when it files enough certified cases of this occupation to support seven percentiles; the rest are left out rather than drawn thin. DOL PERM disclosure files, certified cases only

Who files this job

The sponsors and firms with the most PERM filings under this code, and the states the work sits in.

Sponsors filing it

  1. FPL FOOD, LLC 605 filings · 100.0% approved
  2. Tyson Fresh Meats, Inc. 424 filings · 99.8% approved
  3. CONSOLIDATED CATFISH PRODUCERS, LLC 221 filings · 94.5% approved
  4. JCG FOODS OF GEORGIA LLC DBA KOCH FOODS 199 filings · 100.0% approved
  5. PECO FOODS, INC 76 filings · 100.0% approved
  6. LOUISIANA PRIDE CATFISH, INC. 65 filings · 100.0% approved

The employers with the most applications under this code. 1,590 of 1,797 filings, 88% of the total.

Firms filing it

  1. Global Immigration Associates, P.C. 424 filings · 99.8% approved
  2. JA EMPLOYMENT AGENCY INC 125 filings · 100.0% approved
  3. Law Office of Tae K Song 90 filings · 100.0% approved
  4. Aum Lee, LLC 59 filings · 100.0% approved
  5. GM INTERNATIONAL CONSULTANTS 22 filings
  6. Goldstein Law Group, LLC 4 filings

The law firms named on the most applications under this code. 724 of 1,797 filings, 40% of the total.

Where the jobs are

  • Georgia 972
  • Nebraska 298
  • Alabama 221
  • Iowa 117
  • Louisiana 77
  • Arkansas 76

The worksite state on the application, which is where the job is and not where the company is headquartered. Volume by state across everyone is on the state map. These 6 states cover 1,761 of 1,797 filings.

Where this sits in the ranking

Ranked 38 of 1,410 by volume: 37 filed at least as many filings, and 1,372 filed no more.

Just above
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand 1,832 filings
Just below
Validation Engineers 1,603 filings

Other production roles

Occupations sharing this one's SOC major group, which is carried in the first two digits of the code. Wages inside a group still swing hard, because the group holds every seniority level and every metro.

Reading the wage

This is the median wage employers committed to in federal filings for this occupation. It mixes every experience level and every metro, and it's a floor: the employer must offer at least the prevailing wage DOL determines for the occupation, level and county. Across all PERM filings the middle half of offered wages runs $45,178 to $141,357, so a figure inside that band is unremarkable whichever occupation it belongs to.

What these numbers don't say

The code is the identity
Two SOC codes can carry the same job title, so a title that looks duplicated on the ranking is two different occupations. Match on the code when you're checking a specific filing.
A median isn’t an offer
It's the middle of every wage committed to for this occupation across the country, entry level and principal alike. The same role's medians swing hard by worksite, which the state map shows directly.
Approval isn’t about the occupation
The denial rate moves with what happened in the filing rather than with the job title. The measured factors are on the denial risk page, published as separate rates.
Nothing here is pending
Every case in DOL's disclosure files carries a decision date, so a case still waiting is in none of these counts. Where the queue stands today is on the processing times page.

The window these figures cover

DOL's FY2026 Q3 and FY2025 Q4 and New Form FY2024 Q4 and FY2024 Q4 PERM disclosure files, unioned and de-duplicated by case number: 373,939 cases. Every case in them carries a decision, so nothing here counts what’s still pending. How each figure is built, and what it can and can't answer, is set out in the methodology.

Weighing an offer?

Compare it against this median, then check the state map, where the same occupation's medians swing hard by worksite.

Setting one?

All 1,410 occupations sort together on the wages page, and denial rates show how outcome moves with the offered wage.

Case data: DOL quarterly disclosure files (flag.dol.gov) · data through Jun 30, 2026 · quarterly

Employers and firms: Derived from the disclosure corpus · data through Aug 26, 2026 · rebuilt with each quarterly ingest