Slaughterers and meat packers job market in Nebraska
Industry trends, wages and hiring signals.
The headline
Industry employment fell while average weekly industry wages rose
A data-driven view of the industries that employ Slaughterers and meat packers in Nebraska.
Occupation pay
What Slaughterers and meat packers earn in Nebraska
BLS OEWS occupation-level pay estimates for this role — separate from the industry wage trends used elsewhere in this report.
Median annual wage
$48,910Nebraska- Middle 50% of published wages
- $45,060 – $51,740
- U.S. median annual wage
- $40,130
- Reference period
- May 2025
The middle 50% is the 25th-to-75th percentile wage range, not an experience-level band. Suppressed or unavailable BLS values remain unpublished rather than being estimated.
Pay around Nebraska
How median pay varies by metro area
Published BLS OEWS metro estimates for Slaughterers and meat packers, compared with the Nebraska median of $48,910.
Sioux City, IA-NE-SD$49,600+1.4% vs. state
Omaha, NE-IA$46,390−5.2% vs. state
Areas are ordered by published median wage for readability, not as an overall job-market ranking. The vertical marker is the Nebraska median. Some BLS metropolitan areas cross state lines, so a metro estimate can cover workers in more than one state.
Verified snapshot
Market at a Glance
Key changes in Nebraska’s weighted industry mix.
Percentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
Published coverage: 1,911 represented establishments, 90.86% of the published industry mix.
Local research
What the data shows for slaughterers and meat packers in Nebraska
Findings describe the published observation periods shown below. Research published Oct 11, 2026.
This occupation is more concentrated in the state
Nebraska's share of employment in slaughterers and meat packers differs from the national share in OEWS May 2025. The published location quotient of 11.89 expresses the state share as 11.89 times the national share. The state estimate is 5,480 jobs, 7.8% of the national employment estimate for this occupation. It represents 5.35 jobs per thousand jobs in the state's OEWS employment universe. The ratio describes employment concentration, not current hiring or future growth.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSOEWS employment estimates describe covered wage-and-salary jobs and exclude self-employed workers; location quotients do not measure vacancies or worker demand.
Published median pay is above the U.S. median
Nebraska's published median annual wage for slaughterers and meat packers is 21.9% above the national median in OEWS May 2025. The state estimate is $48,910, compared with $40,130 across the U.S. These medians are not adjusted for living costs and do not describe every worker.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSFindings describe published data and do not establish causes. Methodology
Employment trends
Nebraska industry employment over time
Year-over-year change in the weighted industries. The U.S. line is the latest-quarter benchmark because a comparable national quarterly history is not published here.
- Nebraska · 2026 Q1-2.9%
- U.S. · latest-quarter benchmark-1.2%
The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.
View every published value
| Quarter | Nebraska | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 Q2 | -0.3% | 100% |
| 2024 Q3 | -0.6% | 100% |
| 2024 Q4 | -0.7% | 100% |
| 2025 Q1 | -1.0% | 100% |
| 2025 Q2 | -1.6% | 100% |
| 2025 Q3 | -2.0% | 100% |
| 2025 Q4 | -1.8% | 100% |
| 2026 Q1 | -2.9% | 93.29% |
How to read this chart
State trend and national reference
The solid line follows Nebraska’s published year-over-year industry employment changes by quarter. The dashed U.S. line is a latest-quarter reference, not a second time series.
- Published quarters
- 8
- Earliest quarter
- 2024 Q2
- Latest quarter
- 2026 Q1
- U.S. benchmark
- -1.2%
Quarters with no published value are omitted rather than interpolated.
Industry context
Where Slaughterers and meat packers Work
The occupation mix determines which Nebraska industries are weighted into this view.
| Industry group | Occupation mix | Employment change | Establishments | Avg. weekly industry wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 90.5% | -2.9% | 1,911 | $1,345 |
| Trade, transportation, and utilities | 6.7% | Not published | 9,406 | $864 |
| Professional and business services | 2.4% | -3.0% | 17,116 | $1,705 |
Which industries are growing?
No weighted industry published growth
In January to March 2026, none of the weighted Nebraska industries published a positive year-over-year employment change. Nothing is substituted in its place.
Current Nebraska context
Current Nebraska Market Signals
Statewide indicators for all occupations in Nebraska. They are not Slaughterers and meat packers demand and are not part of the Job Market Health score.
Statewide job postings
Indeed job postings · Nebraska
Recent hiring-demand context · separate from the health score
Total postings index (seasonally adjusted) by observation date · baseline 100
The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.
View values: Indeed postings index
| Observation date | Index (Feb 2020 = 100) |
|---|---|
| Jul 24, 2026 | 116.96 |
| Jul 31, 2026 | 116.76 |
| Aug 7, 2026 | 117.28 |
| Aug 14, 2026 | 117.97 |
| Aug 21, 2026 | 118.56 |
| Aug 28, 2026 | 119.29 |
| Sep 4, 2026 | 119.99 |
| Sep 11, 2026 | 121.09 |
| Sep 18, 2026 | 120.88 |
| Sep 25, 2026 | 122.17 |
| Oct 2, 2026 | 122.05 |
| Oct 9, 2026 | 121.79 |
| Oct 16, 2026 | 122.63 |
| Oct 23, 2026 | 123.57 |
This is statewide demand across all occupations, not demand for this specific job. Postings are not a count of vacancies or hires, and Indeed does not cover the entire labor market.
Source: Indeed Hiring Lab · CC BY 4.0. Seven-day average, seasonally adjusted; publisher refreshes weekly and may revise history. Retrieved Nov 1, 2026 · saved source copy. JobMarketHealth calculates the displayed changes and samples weekly observations for the chart.
Career context
Related occupations
Related roles from the occupation’s published O*NET profile.
Questions answered by this release
Slaughterers and meat packers in Nebraska FAQs
Each answer is limited to what QCEW 2026 Q1 actually publishes for this state.
Is employment growing for Slaughterers and meat packers in Nebraska?
The available QCEW measure is not direct occupation employment. Employment across the Nebraska industries weighted to Slaughterers and meat packers changed -2.9% year over year in January to March 2026, compared with -1.2% nationwide.
Are wages for Slaughterers and meat packers rising in Nebraska?
QCEW does not publish pay for Slaughterers and meat packers in this view. Average weekly wages across the weighted industries changed +5.4% year over year; that must not be read as an occupation salary change.
How complete is this Nebraska industry view?
The three core state trends each meet the site’s coverage floor; the minimum published coverage is 93.29% of the occupation’s industry mix.
Does this page show current Slaughterers and meat packers openings?
No. QCEW measures industry employment, establishments and wages. Any postings, news or WARN figures shown here are statewide context and are not occupation-specific openings.
Methodology & sourcesQCEW 2026 Q1 · coverage 93.29% · full evidence record
Methodology & Sources
Derived by JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix. This is occupation-weighted industry context, not direct occupation employment and not a count of current job openings.
- Occupation
- Slaughterers and meat packers
- SOC code
- 51-3023
- State
- Nebraska
- QCEW release label
- QCEW 2026 Q1
- Data period
- 2026 Q1
- State industry employment, year over year
- -2.9%State data coverage 93.29%
- U.S. benchmark, year over year
- -1.2%
- Difference from U.S. benchmark
- -1.7 percentage pointsPercentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
- Establishments, year over year
- +0.4%State data coverage 93.29%
- Average weekly industry wage, year over year
- +5.4%State data coverage 100%
- Industry mix vintage
- EP-2025-2035
- BLS publication date
- Aug 28, 2026
- Source verification
- Verified against the committed source snapshotVerified Sep 17, 2026
- Canonical record URL
- https://jobmarkethealth.com/occupations/slaughterers-and-meat-packers/nebraska#evidence-record
- Derived by
- JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix
MethodologyBLS QCEWHow to citeQCEW state context release, 2026 Q1
Weighted industry conditions are not direct occupation employment, occupation wages, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. No causal explanation is inferred.