78 percent of amusement and recreation attendants were required to interact verbally with the public every few minutes

Some of the biggest state fairs take place during the summer and early fall, including the Ohio State Fair, New York State Fair, Minnesota State Fair, The Big E of New England (the only multi-state fair), and the State Fair of Texas. These fairs promote agricultural education and innovation while also offering carnival rides, food, games, music, and more—something for everyone. State fair organizations increase their workforce by hundreds of employees, and businesses providing goods and services at state fairs add hundreds or thousands of temporary workers.

Many of these workers are classified as amusement and recreation attendants, workers who operate amusement concessions and rides or maintain and provide equipment to participants in recreational pursuits. In 2025, 78.0 percent of amusement and recreation attendants had "external" verbal interactions every few minutes, meaning interactions with people who did not work for the same employer, including interactions with the general public or employees of other fair vendors. Other occupational requirements for these workers included exposure to the outdoors (75.8 percent), variable work schedule (82.6 percent), and low postures such as bending or kneeling (88.9 percent).

These data are from the Occupational Requirements Survey. To learn more, see "Occupational Requirements in the United States – 2025."