The warehousing industry is one of the largest businesses in
today's global economy. Although many manufacturing jobs have been
outsourced from the United States, warehousing employment has
actually gone up. Essentially, every business, government, and
organization needs a warehouse to store the huge flow of consumed
goods. The reason is that as more goods are produced, more
facilities are required to store and process the goods. In the
United States, there are plenty of warehouse job opportunities,
especially near major ports and transportation hubs.
The advantage of the warehouse industry is that there are
diverse employment opportunities for workers of different
educational backgrounds and skill levels. The most basic and
therefore low paying jobs are warehouse handlers, people who load
and unload products. Such a job usually pays about $10 per hour,
which is just over the minimum wage. Loading and unloading requires
physically handling packages and containers either by hand or with
the help of vehicles and machinery such as forklifts. For example,
a warehouse handler has to receive products from a truck or freight
train and bring them into the loading bays of a warehouse. There
are minimum educational requirements for warehouse handling jobs.
However, all warehouse employees are subject to strict background
checks and other types of scrutiny. This is because workers are
responsible for handling products which may be worth millions of
dollars, so theft and damage must be minimized by the
employees.
Skilled warehouse jobs involve logistics and management. For
example, there are workers who are responsible for keeping an
inventory of the arrivals and shipments of merchandise. Such a job
offers a better salary than a loading job and usually involves
working in an office setting rather than on the actual warehouse
floor. A college degree is preferred for any warehouse jobs that
require dealing with paperwork and computer data entry.
A warehouse manager is the highest job position available in
such a setting. College degrees in business related specialties are
required for this job. A manager is responsible for maintaining
communications with the transportation companies and the businesses
which will ultimately sell or use the products stored in the
warehouse. Managers must constantly check the warehouse for proper
safety standards and to make sure that other employees comply with
all regulations. In the United States, Warehouse managers earn an
average of at least $55,000 per year.