The Olympic Job Market: Before And After The Games

Most of the time, Snoop Dogg keeps busy with his music career, occasional acting gigs, and a wide range of business ventures. But this month has been different: Snoop Dogg’s position as NBC special correspondent has come with unexpected job requirements, including testing his lung power while swimming with Michael Phelps, dancing with Simone Biles and the US women’s gymnastics team, and carrying the Olympic torch. 

Snoop is wearing a lot of hats (sometimes literally). But he’s not the only one with an important job at these Olympics, and neither is he the only person with more than one job. Watching an event of this size raises interesting questions: what kinds of workers does it take to produce an event like this? And athletes have been training for the spotlight for years—what do they do after this?  

Labor market data can help provide the answers.

Most Olympic Athletes Ultimately Find Careers in Sports

When we look at the worker profile data for those with “Olympian” on their resume, we see a few key trends. Most continue to pursue careers related to sports, like coaches or agents. Outside that realm, many athletes ultimately end up in finance-related fields as well—one example would be Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, famous for their early involvement in Facebook and later business careers, who placed sixth in rowing at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Here are five common career pathways Olympians have taken, according to Lightcast data.

But before athletes can find post-Olympics careers, there’s a show to put on. What does the job market look like for non-Olympians as the host city prepares for the Games?

The Road To Gold

Even though Paris was awarded the 2024 Summer Olympics back in 2017, Olympic-related job postings in France didn’t see real growth until about a year before the torch was lit. And as you might expect, postings saw a massive jump in preparation for all the athletes and onlookers. That spike peaked three months before the Games commenced.

Among those jobs, Food and Beverage Preparation is the most-requested occupation group by a large margin—not quite as dominant as Katie Ledecky in the 1500-meter freestyle, but it’s close. Three food-related occupation categories placed in the top 10. 

These broad categories don’t distinguish between different types of food service, but with an event this big, it takes all kinds. Since athletes burn so many calories, feeding them is crucial, and many of the food-service postings would be related to the competitors’ specific needs. That would include the bakery Coup de Pates, whose choice chocolate-chip muffins have become a cult favorite at the Olympic Village.

On the other hand, the Olympians aren’t alone at these Games (like they were in Tokyo in 2021). Paris, already a global food hub, has drawn millions of visitors hungry to master the art of French eating.

Most of those job postings are concentrated in Paris, which makes sense. But not all of them: the venues for these Olympics are spread throughout France. Football (soccer) venues include stadiums in Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseilles, Nantes, and Nice; basketball and handball are being played in Lille, and Marseilles is also hosting sailing. We see that many of those regions outside Paris saw increased Olympic-related job postings.

From the City of Lights to the City of Angels

As we saw earlier, Olympic-related postings in California have tracked closely with similar jobs in France, meaning we can likely expect a similar rise in hospitality and food-related postings in Los Angeles around 2027. But for now, the greatest demand in the US is for sports and health-related occupations like "Coach," "Registered Nurse," and "Personal Trainer / Fitness Instructor." Another notable trend is the high demand for product managers, hospitality managers, and sales managers. According to one job posting, these employees "will be crucial in managing and delivering technology projects for major events, including...the Olympic Games."

We can also look to established career pathways as a key talent pool for crucial jobs in the next cycle. The Olympics are full of past athletes now working the Games in new roles, like commentator or coach—and we know that over half of Olympians continue their careers in sports, so we’ll likely see plenty more in Los Angeles. 

From the medalists at the top of the podium to their clock-wearing hype men in the stands and the crucial staff making sure the details go right, it takes a village—an Olympic village—to make sure the Games can begin. The Olympics don't just showcase athletic excellence; they create a diverse job market that evolves from long-term planning to short-term execution, and workers are at the heart of all of it, making sure the world’s best athletes can go faster, higher, and stronger—together.

Thanks for reading On The Job. Be sure to catch up on our past issues (including "The Inflation Equations" “What Happens When AI Job Postings Go Down?” and “The Future Of The Future Of Work”), and you can also subscribe here. We’ll see you next time.