Will AI replace Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand?
AI reaches little of this job’s work.
8/100
Low exposure
More exposed to AI than 18% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 0% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 16% of the work
What the job involves
Manually move freight, stock, luggage, or other materials, or perform other general labor. Includes all manual laborers not elsewhere classified.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Within reach(2)
- Record numbers of units handled or moved, using daily production sheets or work tickets.
- Attach identifying tags to containers or mark them with identifying information.
Out of reach(10)
- 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.
- Sort cargo before loading and unloading.
- Install protective devices, such as bracing, padding, or strapping, to prevent shifting or damage to items being transported.
and 5 more
Also called
Material Handler · Dock Worker · Loader · Warehouse Worker · Flyer · Lumber Handler · Munitions Handler · Package Handler
Related jobs
What these numbers mean
The score is the share of this job’s work, weighted by how important and frequent each task is, that AI could do in half the time: tasks an AI model could do alone count in full, tasks that need software built on AI count half.
“AI already used” is the share of the work in tasks where people are recorded using AI today. “As AI tools mature” counts every task AI could halve, with or without extra software.
The percentile compares the score with every job’s, weighted by how many people in the US do each one. Exposure means AI could change how the work is done, not that the job goes away. These are estimates for the typical job, not predictions.
Sources
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
- GPTs are GPTs: Labor market impact potential of LLMs (task labels), Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), OpenAI and University of Pennsylvania
- Anthropic Economic Index: labor market impacts (task penetration), Anthropic
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (national and metropolitan areas), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics