Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand

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

The occupation "Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand" has an automation risk of 36.2%, with a base risk calculated at 36.5%. This moderate risk level reflects the blend of physical, repetitive work with some requirements for human judgement and adaptability. The tasks most susceptible to automation tend to be those that are routine and easy to standardize, such as maintaining equipment storage areas to protect inventory, following instructions from work orders, and physically moving materials between different locations. These activities can be streamlined with modern logistics and warehouse robotics, which already excel at inventory management, basic navigational movement, and order processing. As technology advances, the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of implementing automation for these tasks increase, driving the risk higher for certain parts of the role. Despite the notable automation risk, several core responsibilities within this occupation remain resistant to complete automation. For example, connecting electrical equipment to power sources for testing requires situational understanding, attention to safety, and the ability to handle variable onsite conditions—areas where human workers still outperform machines. Similarly, adjusting controls to manipulate equipment like cranes and assembling containers with hand tools demand fine motor skills, real-time decision-making, and adaptability. These activities often involve unpredictable elements, customized solutions, and complex environments, making it challenging for automated systems to fully replicate human performance. The need for problem-solving in dynamic, unstructured settings continues to safeguard some aspects of this work from total automation. A critical limiting factor in the automation of this occupation is the low level of bottleneck skills required, particularly originality. With originality registered at only 2.0%, the role generally involves limited creative thinking or innovation, which explains the overall moderate—not high—automation risk. However, originality, even at a low level, is vital for handling unexpected problems, improvising solutions on the job, and ensuring operational continuity when standard procedures do not apply. As a result, while many routine duties may be automated, the occupation still relies on workers’ ability to adapt and think independently when necessary, preserving human roles for the foreseeable future where nuanced judgement is required.