Updated
PERM occupation, SOC 51-3023.00, #76 of 1,410 by filings
Slaughterers and Meat Packers
- Biggest sponsor
- Case Farms Processing, Inc · 82% of its filings
- Busiest state
- OH · 54% of its filings
- Major group
- Production · SOC 51
Weighing an offer for this job?
Where it falls among certified offers, and the four wage levels DOL sets for it by area.
This rate is level with the field
Over 829 decided filings, this rate can't be told apart from the field in either direction.
Why
The 95% interval runs up to a 6.0% denial rate, which still covers the 3.20% the field as a whole records.
Median wage
$31,616
all PERM $103,272
Filings
832
#76 of 1,410
Approval
95.7%
field 96.8%
Median days
477
at the field median
What it pays
Where its median offer sits among every occupation, then the whole ladder of certified offers by year and by state.
Median offered wage
$31,616above 12%
Approval rate
95.7%ahead of 43%
Median days to decision
477 daysahead of 48%
Each bar counts occupations at that value. More
- 5th to 95th
- 25th to 75th
- Median
- 10th and 90th
FY2024
$38,480 median · 52 certified cases
FY2025
$31,720 median · 475 certified cases
FY2026
$30,680 median · 266 certified cases
- 10th
- $26,374
- -26.5% since FY2024
- Median
- $30,680
- -20.3% since FY2024
- 90th
- $30,680
- -20.3% since FY2024
- 95th
- $36,712
- -4.6% since FY2024
These years are not measuring the same group of filings. The count moves by 9.1 times between the largest year and the smallest, so a change in the ladder is at least partly a change in which employers filed rather than a change in what the work pays. Read the shape, not the difference.
| Fiscal year | Cases | 5th | 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th | 95th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2024 | 52 | $35,880 | $35,880 | $35,880 | $38,480 | $38,480 | $38,480 | $38,480 |
| FY2025 | 475 | $31,616 | $31,616 | $31,616 | $31,720 | $31,720 | $31,720 | $31,720 |
| FY2026 | 266 | $21,840 | $26,374 | $30,680 | $30,680 | $30,680 | $30,680 | $36,712 |
A median answers whether pay moved. More
Who files it
The sponsors and firms with the most PERM filings under this code, the places the work sits, and who the workers were.
Sponsors filing it
- Case Farms Processing, Inc 681 filings · 100.0% approved
- CLEMENS FOOD GROUP LLC 108 filings · 72.0% approved
- Ganaderos Borges, Inc. 23 filings
- Midway Food Market, Inc. 6 filings
- grmorales contractor LLC 4 filings
- Indiana Packers Corporation 4 filings
How this is counted
The employers with the most applications under this code. 826 of 832 filings, 99% of the total.
Firms filing it
- WA Law Group, LLC 578 filings · 100.0% approved
- WORK FORCE LLC 88 filings · 65.5% approved
- Karen M. Ocasio, Law Office 23 filings
- Farmer Law PC 19 filings
- Jackson Walker LLP 6 filings
- Barnes & Thornburg LLP 4 filings
How this is counted
The law firms named on the most applications under this code. 718 of 832 filings, 86% of the total.
Where the jobs are
- Ohio 447
- North Carolina 234
- Michigan 107
- Puerto Rico 23
- Texas 6
- Georgia 4
How this is counted
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 821 of 832 filings.
Where the work is
- Winesburg, OH 447
- Morganton, NC 234
- Coldwater, MI 107
- Naguabo, PR 23
- Katy, TX 6
- Delphi, IN 4
How this is counted
The worksite city on the application, which is where the job is. These 6 cities cover 821 of 832 filings.
- Every sponsor that files it, by state, approval rate, offered wage and time to a decision
- Every filing for it, PERM, wage requests and H-1B, case by case
Newspapers it advertised in
- 446 cases
The Canton Repository (Canton, OH)
- 234 cases
The Charlotte Observer
- 23 cases
El Nuevo Dia
- 19 cases
Detroit Free Press
- 14 cases
COLDWATER DAILY REPORT
- 6 cases
COLDWATER DAILY REPORTER
How this is counted
The newspaper or professional journal named for each case's two print ads, one count per paper per case, however the filer spelled it.
How long before filing it began
- 0.0%
Under 30 days
- 0.0%
30 to 59 days
- 18%
60 to 89 days
- 18%
90 to 119 days
- 19%
120 to 149 days
- 44%
150 to 180 days
- 0.0%
Over 180 days
How this is counted
Days from the first recruitment step to the filing. 20 C.F.R. § 656.17(e) puts the job order and ads 30 to 180 days before filing.
Who filled these jobs, FY2016 to FY2023
From DOL's old form; the form in use since mid-2023 doesn't carry them. Top six of each.
Country of citizenship
- Haiti 10
- Venezuela 9
Worker's education
- High School 13
- None 5
- Bachelor's 1
Visa held when filed
- B-2 10
- TPS 8
- PAROLEE 1
Schools
- LA UNION FAIT LA FORCE 2
- COLEGIO LA MERCED 1
- COLLEGE ROGER A ANGLADE 1
- ESCUELA NACIONAL BOLIVARIANA GRAN COLOMBIA 1
- INSTITUTO CENTRAL DE EDUCACION 1
- LICEO EDUARDO MATHIAS LOSSADA 1
Fields of study
- LEGAL SCIENCES 1
The job itself
What O*NET says the work is, what the market pays it by BLS's survey, its outlook, and DOL's wage levels year by year.
- United States69,950 jobs
- North Northeastern Ohio nonmetropolitan area (noncontiguous)Winesburg
- Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NCMorganton
- Southern Michigan nonmetropolitan areaColdwater
- San Juan-Bayamon-Caguas, PRNaguabo
- Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TXKaty
- middle half of pay (BLS)
- median
- 10th to 90th percentile
- DOL's Levels I to IV, left to right
- median PERM offer
| Area | BLS median | Level I | Level II | Level III | Level IV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $40,130 | ||||
| North Northeastern Ohio nonmetropolitan area (noncontiguous) | $37,690 | $34,237 | $36,067 | $37,877 | $39,707 |
| Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC | — | $33,779 | $36,005 | $38,251 | $40,477 |
| Southern Michigan nonmetropolitan area | — | $41,246 | $44,824 | $48,422 | $52,000 |
| San Juan-Bayamon-Caguas, PR | $22,910 | $22,048 | $23,150 | $24,274 | $25,376 |
| Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX | — | $24,003 | $28,808 | $33,613 | $38,418 |
How these figures fit together
BLS surveys employers on what they pay everyone in a job; DOL builds its four levels from the same survey a year later (the July 2026 wage year uses BLS's May 2025 estimates). DOL publishes levels by area, not nationally, so the United States line has none. Levels are hourly in DOL's tables; here they're shown a year at 2,080 hours, as DOL computes them. The metros are the ones holding the most of this job's PERM filings, placed by Census's county files.
The block is the middle half of what employers report paying everyone in this job, citizen or not; the ticks under it are DOL's four prevailing wage levels for that metro, the floors a PERM or H-1B offer is held to. More
DOL's levels for this job in North Northeastern Ohio nonmetropolitan area (noncontiguous), year by year
Each July DOL resets the four levels from BLS's newest survey. A determination keeps the figures of the year it was issued in.
| Wage year | Level I | Level II | Level III | Level IV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | $34,237 | $36,067 | $37,877 | $39,707 |
| 2025-26 | $34,798 | $36,400 | $38,002 | $39,603 |
| 2024-25 | $31,075 | $34,362 | $37,648 | $40,934 |
| 2023-24 | $28,579 | $30,493 | $32,427 | $34,341 |
| 2022-23 | $27,914 | $30,014 | $32,136 | $34,237 |
| 2021-22 | $25,605 | $27,477 | $29,328 | $31,200 |
What the job is
Perform nonroutine or precision functions involving the preparation of large portions of meat. Work may include specialized slaughtering tasks, cutting standard or premium cuts of meat for marketing, making sausage, or wrapping meats. Work typically occurs in slaughtering, meat packing, or wholesale establishments.
- Preparation
- Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- O*NET Job Zone 1-2
- DOL's education basis
- None
- Wage year 2026-27
- Jobs, 2025 to 2035
- +2.0%
- About 7,700 openings a year (BLS)
- Typical entry
- No formal educational credential
- BLS
The education workers in it report
- 29%
Less than a High School Diploma
- 61%
High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED)
- 11%
Some College Courses
Titles people use for it
Boning Room Worker, Meat Packer, Meat Processor, Meat Wrapper, Meat Packager, Saw Man, Side Puller, Wrapper.
Related jobs: Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers, Butchers and Meat Cutters, Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals, Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products, Food Preparation Workers, Animal Breeders.
This section includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database and O*NET OnLine by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. PERM Tracker has modified some of this information (the shares are rounded and only the top tasks are shown); what changed. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.
Against other jobs
Where this sits in the ranking
Ranked 76 of 1,410 by volume: 75 filed at least as many filings, and 1,334 filed no more.
Other production roles
Occupations sharing this one's SOC major group, which is carried in the first two digits of the code. More
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.
- #62 HelpersProduction Workers 1,002 filings · 80 denied
- #101 Team Assemblers 523 filings · 12 denied
- #38 Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers 1,797 filings · 14 denied
- #24 Team Assemblers 2,504 filings · 5 denied
- #16 Helpers--Production Workers 3,399 filings · 40 denied
- #3 Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers 9,306 filings · 46 denied
The same job on H-1B
4 certified H-1B labor condition applications for this occupation since FY2020, offering a median of $40,792 a year; the middle half ran $37,508 to $40,934. By state and year in the salary explorer.
Notes on these numbers
Reading the wage
A floor, not a salary survey: every level and metro mixed. DOL's four wage levels for this job, by area.
What the median 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. The levels page reads DOL's OFLC wage search live.
What these numbers don't say
4 notes
- The code is the identity
- This one is SOC 51-3023.00. 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 all 832 wages 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, so nothing here is a property of Slaughterers and Meat Packers. The measured factors are on the denial risk page, published as separate rates.
- Nothing here is pending
- All 832 counted here carry a decision date, because every case in DOL's disclosure files does, so a case still waiting is in none of them. The largest filer of this occupation is Case Farms Processing, Inc. Where the queue stands today is on the processing times page.
The window these figures cover: DOL's PERM disclosure files for fiscal years 2024 to 2026, through the third quarter of 2026, 373,939 decided cases. Nothing pending is counted here. How each figure is built
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.
Filings newer than DOL's last published file can't be attributed to this occupation until DOL publishes them. The live list on the case search page carries them by employer.
Case data: DOL quarterly disclosure files (flag.dol.gov) · data through Jun 30, 2026 · quarterly
Employers and firms: Derived from DOL's disclosure files · data through Jun 30, 2026 · rebuilt with each quarterly load
O*NET occupation data: O*NET Database, USDOL/ETA (onetcenter.org) · data through Aug 16, 2026 · twice a year
BLS market pay: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (bls.gov) · data through May 31, 2025 · yearly, each spring
BLS employment projections: BLS Employment Projections (bls.gov) · data through Dec 31, 2025 · yearly, each autumn
DOL wage tables: DOL OFLC wage data downloads (flag.dol.gov) · data through Jul 1, 2026 · yearly, each july
What each source includes
Case data: Decided PERM cases only. A case still waiting isn't in here, so counts and durations describe finished cases.
Employers and firms: Employers, law firms and occupations ranked from decided cases only.
O*NET occupation data: What O*NET says each occupation is and takes: its description, tasks, Job Zone and the education workers report. A description of the job everywhere, not of any one employer's opening.
BLS market pay: What employers report paying everyone in each job, nationally, by state and by metro, from BLS's yearly survey (May of the year named). Citizens and immigrants alike; not PERM offers.
BLS employment projections: BLS's ten-year projection of each job's employment and yearly openings, and the entry education it calls typical. A projection, not a count.
DOL wage tables: The four prevailing wage levels DOL publishes for every job in every area, each wage year from 2021-22, as DOL's own tables print them. The floors an offer is held to, not what anyone was paid.
Cite this page
Waiting on a PERM case?
- When it'll likely be decided
- An email when DOL moves it