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.