---
title: "Laborer and Freight, Stock, and Material Mover, Hand"
description: "Manually move freight, stock, luggage, or other materials, or perform other general labor. Includes all manual laborers not elsewhere classified."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/laborer-and-freight-stock-and-material-mover-hand"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Laborer and Freight, Stock, and Material Mover, Hand

**Category:** Transportation and Material Moving · **SOC code:** 53-7062 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 53-7062.00

Manually move freight, stock, luggage, or other materials, or perform other general labor. Includes all manual laborers not elsewhere classified.

Also advertised as: Laborer; Loader; Material Handler; Merchandise Pick Up Associate; Merchandise Receiving Associate; Receiver; Receiving Associate; Shipping and Receiving Materials Handler.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $40,240 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $19.35/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $31,270 to $55,140, with the middle half between $36,090 and $46,920
- **Total US employment:** 2,950,280
- **Typical entry education:** No formal credential
- **Preparation required:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +1.5% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034)
- **Annual job openings:** 384,300 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 57/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 2,950,280 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $31,270 |
| 25th | $36,090 |
| 50th (median) | $40,240 |
| 75th | $46,920 |
| 90th | $55,140 |
| Mean (average) | $42,260 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| MN | $46,280 | $46,927 | 54,480 |
| WA | $46,190 | $43,163 | 49,450 |
| DC | $45,740 | $41,619 | 1,200 |
| ND | $45,690 | $51,361 | 9,990 |
| CO | $45,370 | $44,026 | 31,140 |
| MA | $44,920 | $42,475 | 34,700 |
| OR | $44,750 | $43,295 | 27,720 |
| CA | $44,710 | $40,381 | 355,500 |
| NY | $44,630 | $41,354 | 100,950 |
| WI | $44,610 | $47,410 | 70,520 |
| AK | $44,510 | $43,484 | 4,250 |
| AZ | $44,290 | $43,992 | 71,090 |
| HI | $44,120 | $40,127 | 9,490 |
| MT | $43,840 | $46,320 | 3,870 |
| CT | $43,640 | $42,119 | 23,970 |

39 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 54 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/laborer-and-freight-stock-and-material-mover-hand/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/laborer-and-freight-stock-and-material-mover-hand.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 2,988,900 in the 2024–2034 base year to 3,033,100 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 44,300 jobs, or +1.5%. Slower than average: 1.5% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 384,300 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2024–2034.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** No formal educational credential (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Short-term on-the-job training.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| High School Diploma | 88.9% |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 10.6% |
| Some College Courses | 0.6% |

## What the work involves

- Move freight, stock, or other materials to and from storage or production areas, loading docks, delivery vehicles, ships, or containers, by hand or using trucks, tractors, or other equipment.
- Read work orders or receive oral instructions to determine work assignments or material or equipment needs.
- Maintain equipment storage areas to ensure that inventory is protected.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 2.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 2.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 2.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 2.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Coordination — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operations Monitoring — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operation and Control — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 2.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 2.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Instructing — importance 2.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Management of Personnel Resources — importance 2.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Administration and Management — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Public Safety and Security — importance 3.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Transportation — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Production and Processing — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Static Strength — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Trunk Strength — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Multilimb Coordination — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Manual Dexterity — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Stamina — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Realistic (R), Conventional (C).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| R — Realistic | 6.04 |
| C — Conventional | 4.94 |
| E — Enterprising | 2.04 |
| S — Social | 1.47 |
| I — Investigative | 1.12 |
| A — Artistic | 1.00 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ISTJ | 88.3 |
| ESTJ | 80.0 |
| ISFJ | 79.0 |
| ISTP | 67.6 |
| ESFJ | 63.9 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ. The bank also flags this occupation as introvert-friendly, meaning O\*NET work-context ratings put it low on public contact and performing for the public.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Machine Feeder and Offbearer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/machine-feeder-and-offbearer) — median $41,220
- [Industrial Truck and Tractor Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/industrial-truck-and-tractor-operator) — median $46,420
- [Packer and Packager, Hand](https://nuecareer.com/careers/packer-and-packager-hand) — median $36,280
- [Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loader](https://nuecareer.com/careers/tank-car-truck-and-ship-loader) — median $58,870
- [Conveyor Operator and Tender](https://nuecareer.com/careers/conveyor-operator-and-tender) — median $42,420
- [Hoist and Winch Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/hoist-and-winch-operator) — median $56,450
- [Packaging and Filling Machine Operator and Tender](https://nuecareer.com/careers/packaging-and-filling-machine-operator-and-tender) — median $43,220
- [Helpers--Production Worker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/helpers-production-worker) — median $39,070
- [Maintenance Worker, Machinery](https://nuecareer.com/careers/maintenance-worker-machinery) — median $60,850
- [Recycling and Reclamation Worker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/recycling-and-reclamation-worker) — median $40,240

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 30.3 Database, May 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2024–2034. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024–2034 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/laborer-and-freight-stock-and-material-mover-hand