Confectionery Industry Workers
Overview

Introduction
Confectionery industry workers manufacture and package sweets, including bonbons, hard and soft candy, stuffed dates, popcorn balls, and many other types of confections. There are approximately 160,160 food batchmakers in the United States. About 8 percent work in sugar and confectionery product manufacturing.
Quick Facts
Median Salary
Employment Prospects
Minimum Education Level
Experience
Skills
Personality Traits
Earnings
Confectionery workers' wages vary widely depending on such factors as the workers' skills and the size and location of the plant. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, food batchmakers in the sugar and confectionery production industry, earned a mean annual salary of $33,160, or $15.94 per hour, in May 2018, which is a slightly higher mean wage than many other types of food batchmakers. En...
Work Environment
Most confectionery workers in the United States work in large candy making factories; many other workers are employed in plants with fewer than 20 workers. Most plants are modern, clean, and well lighted. Workers who tend machines must exercise caution, but working conditions generally are safe. The work is usually not physically demanding but can be tiring. Like many kinds of production work, ...
Outlook
Little or no change in employment is expected for food batchmakers in sugar and confectionery product manufacturing from 2018 to 2028, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. It reports that as companies "streamline production processes and implement more automation, they will need fewer workers to operate machines, and this may constrain occupational growth."