Hungry for Good Jobs: Food Service Workers in Public Schools

Summary

This report provides an overview of the working conditions and characteristics of public school food service workers, in comparison to other relevant workers in public schools and other food service workers. It is organized as follows:

1. Policies governing school meals: The background and funding structure of school meal programs.
2. The public school food service workforce: Occupational structure of school food service work; characteristics
3. Income and economic wellbeing: Incomes, Access to benefits, family poverty, and household incomes
4. Differences across states: Variations in working conditions and compensation by state.
5. Outsourcing school meals: What we know about the degree of outsourcing in school meals and possible impacts on the public school food service workforce.

We hope this information is valuable to policymakers and administrators seeking to understand how the working conditions of this workforce affect schools’ ability to staff their food service programs, improve nutritional standards, and support family-sustaining jobs.

Key Findings

The number of school food service workers has declined over the past decade, although not uniformly across states. This decline has occurred despite expanded school meal programs supported by pandemic-era federal funding. The long-lasting budget austerity sparked by the Great Recession, declining public school enrollment, a drop-off in meal consumption, and increased outsourcing could all be contributing to employment decline.

• Overall, there has been a steady decline in the number of school lunches served over the past two decades, a trend that resumed after the disruptions of the pandemic (with the exception of states that have maintained funding for universal meals).
• The adoption of “scratch cooking”—preparing meals from scratch instead of purchasing pre-made meals—varies widely, in part because of staff shortages. Many schools lack the infrastructure and staff to make scratch cooking a reality, meaning that improved nutritional standards may be difficult to accomplish unless staffing challenges are resolved.
• School food service workers are significantly older than the overall workforce (median age of 52 compared to 28 for other food service workers) and almost entirely female (93%). They are more likely to be Black or Latino than the overall workforce.
• The median hourly wage for school food service workers is just $12.78 and has declined slightly (in real terms) since 2008-12. They earn less than other food service workers ($13.08), and well below other classified workers ($16.98) and institutional cafeteria workers ($16.01).
• School food service workers are more likely to work part time than other public school staff and workers generally, which affects both their annual income and their eligibility for health and retirement benefits. While part-time seasonal work may appeal to a small subset of these workers, surveys suggest that many would like to work more hours and be able to qualify for benefits.
• School districts have struggled to staff school nutrition positions, along with other classified positions and teachers. An aging workforce means these hiring challenges will only get worse, especially if school food service jobs continue to lag behind similar work in offering decent pay and benefits.

Read the full report.