Series 7408

Food Service Working

Food service workers who serve meals, prepare simple foods, wash dishes, and keep kitchens and dining areas clean, often in hospitals and on military bases.

Plain-language description based on the OPM series definition.

7400 Food Preparation and Serving Family · Federal Wage System (trades)

See open 7408 jobs on USAJOBS Compare with another series Back to Series Directory

At a glance

Job postings, last 12 months: 2,029
Open now: 155
Trend (last 3 months vs. 3 before): Rising (+30%)
Demand score: 96/100
Remote opportunity score: 1/100
Veteran opportunity score: 92/100

What these scores mean

Grades and pay

Typical grades

NA-2 to NA-4

Most common promotion potential: NA-4

NA pay plan, used by 47% of this series' postings.

Typical posted salary range

$42,653 to $46,201 per year

Median of the yearly salary ranges in posted announcements.

Who can apply

Share of job postings in the last 12 months, by who the announcement was open to.

Open to the public: 90%
Federal employees and other special groups only: 10%
Listed a veterans hiring path: 9%
Telework eligible (open now): 1%
Fully remote (open now): 0%

Who is hiring and where

Top hiring departments

Department of Veterans Affairs (1,009)
Department of the Navy (464)
Department of the Air Force (349)
Department of the Army (89)
Department of Defense (88)

Top states

California (152)
Virginia (137)
New York (125)
Florida (86)
North Carolina (84)

Hiring patterns

Based on job announcements since Mar 2017. How patterns are calculated

When this series usually posts jobs

Postings are spread fairly evenly through the year, so there is no clear best month to look.

Typical postings for series 7408 by calendar month, compared with an average month
Month	Compared with an average month
January	About average
February	About average
March	13% above average
April	7% above average
May	About average
June	About average
July	About average
August	13% above average
September	About average
October	About average
November	12% below average
December	17% below average

Postings by fiscal year

The federal fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30. Fiscal years 2025 and 2026 include the government-wide hiring freeze that began in January 2025.

Job announcements for series 7408 by fiscal year
Fiscal year	Postings
FY 2018	1,699
FY 2019	1,712
FY 2020	1,883
FY 2021	2,261
FY 2022	2,565
FY 2023	2,267
FY 2024	1,723
FY 2025	1,725
FY 2026	2,020

Postings by month, last 12 months

Job announcements for series 7408 opened each month
Month	Postings
Dec 2025	117
Jan 2026	153
Feb 2026	158
Mar 2026	195
Apr 2026	204
May 2026	152
Jun 2026	146
Jul 2026	182
Aug 2026	215
Sep 2026	185
Oct 2026	222
Nov 2026 (month to date)	100

7404 Cooking 1,694 postings in 12 months
7407 Meatcutting 377 postings in 12 months
7405 Bartending 363 postings in 12 months
7401 General Food Preparation and Serving 181 postings in 12 months
7420 Waiter 142 postings in 12 months

About this data

Job numbers come from the USAJOBS API: 244,223 job announcements opened from December 1, 2025 to November 15, 2026, plus 12,260 announcements open on November 15, 2026. Canceled announcements are not counted. Series descriptions summarize the OPM Handbook of Occupational Groups and Families.

These figures describe posted job announcements, not hiring outcomes. Always read the official announcement and its qualification requirements before applying. How the scores are calculated.