Veterinary Workers and Workplaces

Veterinary Workers and Workplaces
Veterinary medicine and animal care workers include:
- Veterinarians, veterinary technologists and technicians, veterinary assistants, and laboratory animal caretakers.
- Zoo and aquarium workers, including animal caretakers and grounds keepers.
- Animal shelter and animal control workers.
- Stable and kennel workers.
- Groomers.
- Animal trainers.
Other information about these workers:
- Many veterinary medical workers are female, including 62% of veterinarians, 95% of veterinary technicians, and 84% of veterinary assistants and laboratory animal workers (BLS 2017, NAVTA 2016).
- Small businesses often employ veterinarians, with up to 80% of veterinarians working in solo or group practices (AVMA 2017).
- Veterinary services ranks 2nd in incidence rates for nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses (BLS 2016).
These workers are employed in many industries:
- Veterinary services.
- Zoos and aquariums.
- Nature parks.
- Pet care (except veterinary) services.
- Pet and pet supply stores.
Veterinary work settings vary:
- Veterinary offices, clinics, and hospitals.
- Animal shelters, rescue leagues, and humane societies.
- Kennels, stables, and racetracks.
- Grooming shops and pet stores.
- Farms and ranches.
- Animal facilities such as poultry houses, swine barns, feed lots, and sale barns.
- Zoos, aquariums, and other captive and free-ranging wildlife settings.
- Academic, private, and public clinical and research laboratories.
- Slaughterhouses and meat-packing plants.
- Disaster and emergency response shelters and facilities.
Work can involve many animal species:
- Pets such as domestic dogs, cats, pocket pets, exotic animals, or fish.
- Farm, ranch, or production agriculture animals such as cattle, swine, sheep, goats, poultry, ratites, horses, or farmed fish.
- Laboratory animals from mice to nonhuman primates.
- Captive and free-ranging wildlife such as amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, or aquatic species.
Work tasks are diverse and variable:
- Facility management and maintenance.
- Routine care and treatment of animals.
- Emergency medical care of animals.
- Medical, surgical, and necropsy procedures.
- Laboratory testing or research.
- Livestock and food inspection.
- Disaster and emergency rescue and response.
REFERENCES
America Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) [2017]. Market Research Statistics: U.S. Veterinarians 2017. Available at: https://www.avma.org/KB/Resources/Statistics/Pages/Market-research-statistics-US-veterinarians.aspxexternal icon. Date accessed: April 30, 2018.
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) [2016]. Table SNR01. Highest incidence rates of total nonfatal occupational injury and illness cases, 2016. Available at: https://www.bls.gov/iif/oshsum.htm#16Quartile_external icon. Date accessed: April 30, 2018.
BLS [2017]. Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey. Household Data Annual Averages. Table 11. Employed persons by detailed occupation, sex, race and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity. Available at: https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat11.htmexternal icon. Date accessed: April 30, 2018.
National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America (NAVTA). 2016 NAVTA Demographic Survey Results. Available at: http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.navta.net/resource/resmgr/docs/2016_demographic_results.pdfpdf iconexternal icon. Date accessed: April 30, 2018.