Material handling spans people, powered equipment, warehouse work, manufacturing, wholesale, delivery, and storage. The figures below define their population, geography, period, and measurement type so broad occupational data is not mistaken for equipment-market revenue.
Key Material Handling Statistics
The most useful benchmarks include:
- 13,645,620 people worked in US transportation and material-moving occupations in May 2024, a broad occupational group.
- Transportation and material moving represented 8.9% of US employment in May 2024, according to the major occupational-group measure.
- Material moving workers accounted for 7,871,860 US jobs in May 2024, across multiple material-moving occupations.
- Laborers and material movers held 6,784,150 US jobs in May 2024, including hand-moving, packing, and stock-filling work.
- Industrial truck and tractor operators numbered 805,770 in the United States in May 2024, counting workers rather than machines.
- Warehousing and storage employed 437,680 hand laborers and freight, stock, and material movers in May 2024.
- Warehousing and storage employed 401,150 stockers and order fillers in May 2024, in the US industry.
- Warehousing and storage employed 322,590 industrial truck and tractor operators in May 2024.
- Industrial truck and tractor operators had a $23.00 mean hourly wage in the United States in May 2024.
- Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand had a $41,420 mean annual wage in May 2024, in the United States.
- Material moving machine operators had 841,500 US jobs in May 2025, using the BLS outlook profile grouping.
- Material moving machine operator employment is projected to grow 1% from 2025 to 2035, equivalent to 12,000 additional jobs in the BLS forecast.
- The median annual wage for US material moving machine operators was $46,670 in May 2025.
- OSHA estimated approximately 1.5 million US workers operated powered industrial trucks in 2019.
- BLS recorded 1,357 fatalities involving powered material-hauling and transport industrial vehicles and tractors from 2011 through 2016.
- Five industry sectors accounted for 1,169 fatalities, or 89% of that 2011–2016 total, in OSHA’s BLS-based aggregation.
- Manufacturing recorded 126 fatalities in the 2011–2016 powered-vehicle series, according to OSHA’s summary.
- Couriers and express delivery services employed 335,800 hand laborers and freight, stock, and material movers in May 2024.
Contents
- Material handling workforce statistics
- Warehouse and distribution employment data
- Material handling wages and outlook
- Industry-sector material handling statistics
- Powered industrial truck safety statistics
- Warehousing and storage definitions
Material Handling Workforce Statistics
The broadest benchmark comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics release for May 2024. In the United States, transportation and material-moving occupations employed 13,645,620 people, with a mean hourly wage of $23.44 and a mean annual wage of $48,750 (Occupational Employment and Wages – May 2024).
That occupational group is wider than material handling alone. It represented 8.9% of total US employment, while the narrower BLS “material moving workers” category accounted for 7,871,860 jobs.
The same BLS table reports the following May 2024 employment counts:
| Occupation or group | US employment | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Laborers and material movers | 6,784,150 | Broad BLS material-moving category |
| Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand | 2,982,530 | Hand-moving occupation |
| Stockers and order fillers | 2,779,530 | Stocking and order-filling occupation |
| Industrial truck and tractor operators | 805,770 | Workers, not equipment units |
These counts describe occupations, not the number of forklifts, conveyors, cranes, or other machines. They also should not be read as a single-purpose material-handling workforce because the BLS categories include related transportation and warehouse activities.
Warehouse and Distribution Employment Data
Industry-specific OEWS data shows how warehouse labor is distributed among direct handling and support roles. In US warehousing and storage in May 2024, the largest listed groups were hand movers, stockers and order fillers, and industrial truck operators (Data tables for OEWS industry charts, May 2024).
| Warehousing and storage occupation | Employment, May 2024 | Role context |
|---|---|---|
| Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand | 437,680 | Direct material movement |
| Stockers and order fillers | 401,150 | Inventory and order fulfillment |
| Industrial truck and tractor operators | 322,590 | Powered vehicle operation |
| Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks | 92,970 | Flow and inventory administration |
| Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers | 92,800 | Inbound and outbound transport |
| Hand packers and packagers | 72,820 | Packing and shipment preparation |
| First-line transportation and material-moving supervisors | 63,800 | Supervision, excluding aircraft cargo handling supervisors |
The same industry table identifies warehouse support employment beyond direct handling: 33,260 general maintenance and repair workers, 24,920 first-line office and administrative-support supervisors, and 21,450 customer service representatives. These are context figures, not material-moving occupations, and the industry counts should not be added to the national occupational totals without defining a common universe.
Material Handling Wages and Labor-Market Outlook
May 2024 OEWS mean wages show a wide range across material-moving roles. Industrial truck and tractor operators averaged $23.00 per hour or $47,830 annually, while hand laborers and freight, stock, and material movers averaged $19.91 per hour or $41,420 annually (Occupational Employment and Wages – May 2024).
| Occupation | Mean annual wage | Measurement |
|---|---|---|
| Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand | $41,420 | US mean, May 2024 |
| Conveyor operators and tenders | $44,800 | US mean, May 2024 |
| Industrial truck and tractor operators | $47,830 | US mean, May 2024 |
| Hoist and winch operators | $64,070 | US mean, May 2024 |
| Crane and tower operators | $71,560 | US mean, May 2024 |
These are mean wages, not medians. A separate BLS outlook profile for May 2025 reports 841,500 jobs for material moving machine operators and a $46,670 median annual wage; the lowest-paid 10% earned below $36,900, while the highest-paid 10% earned above $64,230 (Occupational Employment and Wages – May 2024).
The outlook projects 1% employment growth from 2025 to 2035, corresponding to 12,000 additional jobs. That is a forecast, not an observed outcome, and the 2025 grouping differs from the May 2024 OEWS table.
Industry-Sector Material Handling Statistics
Material handling appears across production, wholesale, storage, and delivery. In May 2024, manufacturing employed 406,630 laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand in the United States (Data tables for OEWS industry charts, May 2024).
Selected durable-goods merchant wholesalers employed 146,830 hand movers, 62,040 stockers and order fillers, 61,280 heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers, and 35,680 industrial truck and tractor operators. This is a BLS-defined subset of merchant wholesaling, not all wholesale employment.
Couriers and express delivery services show a different labor mix. The industry employed 335,800 hand movers, 286,960 light truck drivers, 101,300 heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers, and 10,550 conveyor operators and tenders in May 2024.
Some specialized manufacturing industries also report powered-equipment employment. Dairy-product manufacturing employed 5,160 industrial truck and tractor operators, while other wood-product manufacturing employed 10,420 in May 2024.
These industry counts overlap conceptually by occupation but represent separate industry populations. They are best used to understand where material-handling labor is located, not to calculate a national total by addition.
Powered Industrial Truck Safety Statistics
Powered industrial trucks are a narrower subject than material handling overall. OSHA estimated that approximately 1.5 million US workers operated powered industrial trucks in 2019 (Powered Industrial Trucks; Request for Information).
BLS recorded 1,357 fatalities involving powered material-hauling and transport industrial vehicles and tractors from 2011 through 2016. OSHA reported that annual fatalities in this series ranged from 218 to 241, with an annual average of 226; this is a historical series, not a current annual rate.
Five industry sectors accounted for 1,169 fatalities, or 89% of the 2011–2016 total. Agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting accounted for 788 fatalities, while manufacturing accounted for 126.
OSHA also presented an earlier general-industry analysis covering 1981–1990. That historical estimate attributed powered-industrial-truck accidents to 4.8% of fatalities, 3.5% of serious injuries, and 2.4% of non-serious injuries, with annual averages of 107 fatalities, 33,800 serious injuries, and 61,800 non-serious injuries.
The 1981–1990 estimates use different historical definitions and must not be combined with the 2011–2016 fatality series or treated as current injury rates.
Warehousing and Storage Definitions
The 2022 Economic Census identifies NAICS 493 as Warehousing and Storage (2022 Economic Census Core Statistics: Warehousing and Storage (NAICS 493)). Its universe includes paid-employee establishments in the 50 states, associated offshore areas, and the District of Columbia.
The Census core table reports summary-statistics items including number of firms, number of establishments, and sales, value of shipments, or revenue in thousands of dollars. These are Economic Census data items for the defined NAICS 493 employer universe, not automatically a measure of equipment-market revenue or all in-house warehouse operations.
That boundary matters when interpreting material handling statistics. Occupational data measures jobs and pay, OSHA data measures specified powered-vehicle safety series, and Census data defines an employer-industry universe; each answers a different question.