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Elementary occupations · code 9412

Kitchen helpers

Kitchen helpers clear tables, clean kitchen areas, wash dishes, prepare ingredients and perform other duties to assist workers who prepare or serve food and beverages. Tasks include - (a) cleaning kitchens, food preparation areas and service areas; (b) assisting cooks and chefs in preparation of food by washing, peeling, chopping, cutting, measuring and mixing ingredients; (c) assembling dishes for service; (d) unpacking checking, transferring, weighing and storing supplies in refrigerators, cupboards and other storage areas; (e) washing dishes and cooking utensils and putting them away; (f) preparing, cooking, toasting and heating simple food items. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Hand dish washer - Kitchen assistant - Kitchen hand - Kitchen porter - Kitchen steward - Pantry attendant Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Cook - 5120 - Fast food preparer - 9411

None of this job's tasks scored high enough to count. It ranks 47 of 427 for holding up against AI.

Also known as

  • kitchen porter
  • kitchen assistant

Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.

87
Holds up
against AI Not Exposed

AI could take on 13 of 100, on average
so it holds up at 100 − 13 = 87

That's the whole sum, and you can check it against the ILO's study.

42.2
How hands-on
out of 100

From O*NET, averaged across 3 US jobs

31.4
How fiddly
and cramped

finger skill 36.9 · hand skill 44.7 · cramped spaces 12.6 · averaged

Kind of hands-on work · hands-on under 50 Less than half hands-on

Less than half of this job is hands-on. Robots still matter, but for a smaller part of the work, so we don't sort it any further.

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.7-work-setting measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

What this number leaves out This job rates 42.2 out of 100 for how hands-on it is. The score above only looks at AI tools, not robots, but for work this far from the physical that matters less.

The tasks behind the score

The score is the average of these. A job is really a bundle of tasks, and an average can hide how uneven that bundle is.

The task AI could do most of scores 15, while the average is 13. A big gap means some of this job is wide open to AI and some of it barely at all. That's quite different from a job where everything sits somewhere in the middle, even when the averages match.

  1. 15

    Unpacking checking, transferring, weighing and storing supplies in refrigerators, cupboards and other storage areas

    Very Low
  2. 14.5

    Assembling dishes for service

    Very Low
  3. 14.3

    Assisting cooks and chefs in preparation of food by washing, peeling, chopping, cutting, measuring and mixing ingredients

    Very Low
  4. 12.5

    Washing dishes and cooking utensils and putting them away

    Very Low
  5. 11.5

    Cleaning kitchens, food preparation areas and service areas

    Very Low
  6. 10

    Preparing, cooking, toasting and heating simple food items.

    Very Low

6 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.7-work-setting

Helped, or replaced?

The score above can't tell a tool that makes you faster from one that does the task instead of you. Jobs and Skills Australia looked at those two things separately, and this is their result, matched to this job.

2 Australian jobs match this one, and we've simply averaged them. Treat the numbers as a rough guide.

AI helps you
46.5
AI does it for you
22

Helping wins by 24.5 points.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.7-work-setting matched to Australian jobs 8512, 8513

Compared with similar jobs

There are 33 jobs in the “Elementary occupations” group, averaging 84.9. This one is above that.