In my last post, “MOO AND GOO,” I wondered how one becomes a butcher. According to the California Employment Development Department “union-apprentice Butchers or Meat Cutters must first be hired by a company that has signed an agreement with the Joint Apprenticeship Committee. Approximately 4,000 hours of supervised on-the-job training is required during the two-year apprenticeship. Apprentices also take a minimum of 144 hours each year of related classroom training. Journey-level status is granted after the apprentice qualifies in both job performance and classroom work.” After you do all this, you probably will work a 40-hour week and earn around $30,000 a year. Also the outlook for butchers is not good. An almost 10% decline in job openings is expected.
On “Good Eats” (Food Network TV show) Alton Brown is always urging one to have a relationship with the butcher and the fishmonger. Unfortunately, it is really hard to find people in these professions and apparently there will be fewer and fewer of them in the future.Â