Industry group, 4931
Warehousing and Storage
1,963,680 people work in this industry in the US, at mean pay of $53,680 a year (BLS, May 2025). What follows is how much of their working time the best AI models could finish, when, and in which jobs and tasks. Estimates.
of the paid hours. Estimate.
a year: 711 million hours at what they cost. Not a forecast of savings.
- 23%
- 6%
- 71%
of the paid hours are within reach now in tasks people already bring to Claude. Another 16% is within reach in tasks not yet seen there.
Across the US: 22% within reach now and 37% by the end of 2028, on the long-run pace at four in five.
Share of the paid hours within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this industry's paid hours were within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 2%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 16%. Today's estimate: 18%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Where the hours are
Jobs by hours within reach now. The 40 largest jobs hold 94% of the people.
| People | Pay here | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stockers and Order Fillers | 457,740 | 19% | 181 million | $45K |
| Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks | 89,090 | 53% | 98 million | $47K |
| Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand | 433,060 | 9% | 81 million | $46K |
| Customer Service Representatives | 21,000 | 64% | 28 million | $46K |
| Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers | 93,410 | 14% | 27 million | $60K |
| First-Line Supervisors of Material-Moving Machine and Vehicle Operators | 22,823 | 51% | 24 million | $72K |
| First-Line Supervisors of Helpers, Laborers, and Material Movers, Hand | 22,823 | 44% | 21 million | $72K |
| Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks | 15,820 | 63% | 21 million | $50K |
| First-Line Supervisors of Passenger Attendants | 22,823 | 37% | 17 million | $72K |
| First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers | 23,290 | 35% | 17 million | $77K |
| Office Clerks, General | 13,990 | 54% | 16 million | $47K |
| Packers and Packagers, Hand | 74,380 | 7% | 11 million | $44K |
People: BLS counts for this industry, May 2025. Pay here: the median paid for the job in this industry, else its mean, else the national median. 211 smaller jobs (116,730 people) count in every total but are not listed. Task data covers 100% of the industry's people; the rest are in BLS "all other" groups with no task list, or in counts BLS does not publish.
The tasks with the most hours within reach by the end of 2028
Across the whole industry, on the chosen pace and reliability.
- Record numbers of units handled or moved, using daily production sheets or work tickets.Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand60 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Determine proper storage methods, identification, and stock location, based on turnover, environmental factors, and physical capabilities of facilities.Stockers and Order Fillers34 million hours80% of the task within reach
- Requisition merchandise from supplier, based on available space, merchandise on hand, customer demand, or advertised specials.Stockers and Order Fillers26 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Prepare documents, such as work orders, bills of lading, or shipping orders, to route materials.Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks24 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Recommend disposal of excess, defective, or obsolete stock.Stockers and Order Fillers21 million hours50% of the task within reach
- Read work orders or receive oral instructions to determine work assignments or material or equipment needs.Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand20 million hours50% of the task within reach
- Receive and count stock items, and record data manually or on computer.Stockers and Order Fillers19 million hours30% of the task within reach
- Determine shipping methods, routes, or rates for materials to be shipped.Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks17 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Keep records on the use or damage of stock or stock-handling equipment.Stockers and Order Fillers16 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Design and set up advertising signs and displays of merchandise on shelves, counters, or tables to attract customers and promote sales.Stockers and Order Fillers16 million hours30% of the task within reach
Scan a typical company in this industry
The industry's largest jobs, in the proportions BLS counts across the whole industry, at the pay it pays, run through the company scan. A starting point before you have a roster, or a benchmark for the one you have.
How it is built: BLS counts the people in each job in this industry; each job's tasks and their lengths give its share within reach at a date; the industry's share is those shares weighted by people. Value is pay times 1.43 for benefits and payroll costs. Seen in Claude use splits today's share by whether Anthropic saw people bring each task to Claude in 2025; other AI tools are not counted. How it works