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.
Most important skills
- Coordination
- Active Listening
- Reading Comprehension
- Speaking
- Monitoring
- Operations Monitoring
- Operation and Control
- Time Management
Key knowledge
- Administration and Management
- Customer and Personal Service
- Public Safety and Security
- Transportation
- Production and Processing
- Mathematics
- English Language
- Personnel and Human Resources
What the work involves
- Read work orders or receive oral instructions to determine work assignments or material or equipment needs.
- 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.
- Maintain equipment storage areas to ensure that inventory is protected.
- Attach identifying tags to containers or mark them with identifying information.
- Record numbers of units handled or moved, using daily production sheets or work tickets.
- Sort cargo before loading and unloading.
- Assemble product containers or crates, using hand tools and precut lumber.
- Pack containers and re-pack damaged containers.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Enterprising.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (88.9% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (52.9%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (39.6%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very low | Lower on contact with others than 86% of occupations compared | 57% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Low | Lower on dealing with the public than 72% of occupations compared | 27% of surveyed respondents chose “Important” |
| Teamwork | Low | Lower on teamwork than 62% of occupations compared | 51% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 78% of occupations compared | 42% of surveyed respondents chose “Limited freedom” |
| Time pressure | Low | Lower on time pressure than 60% of occupations compared | 46% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | Low | Lower on conflict situations than 79% of occupations compared | 33% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | High | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 67% of occupations compared | 29% of surveyed respondents chose “Never” |
| Consequence of error | High | Higher on consequence of error than 78% of occupations compared | 45% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: low
- Conflict situations: low
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: high
- Consequence of error: high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 4.15%
- Occasional contact with others: 32.19%
- Contact with others about half the time: 3.79%
- Contact with others most of the time: 3.04%
- Constant contact with others: 56.84%
n = 27, Incumbent 08/2024
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 22.86%
- Fairly important: 22.74%
- Important: 26.84%
- Very important: 3.78%
- Extremely important: 23.78%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2024
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 13.45%
- Important: 10.53%
- Very important: 25.37%
- Extremely important: 50.65%
n = 27, Incumbent 08/2024
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0.56%
- Very little freedom: 7.65%
- Limited freedom: 42.1%
- Some freedom: 13.99%
- A lot of freedom: 35.7%
n = 26, Incumbent 08/2024
Time pressure
- Never: 1.59%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 12.91%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 17.54%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 45.6%
- Every day: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 27, Incumbent 08/2024
Conflict situations
- Never: 27.74%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 33.13%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 22.1%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 5.11%
- Every day: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 27, Incumbent 08/2024
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 29%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 12.41%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 7.16%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 22.43%
- Every day: 29%
n = 25, Incumbent 08/2024
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 11.17%
- Fairly serious: 10.07%
- Serious: 25.11%
- Very serious: 8.43%
- Extremely serious: 45.22%
n = 24, Incumbent 08/2024
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O*NET-SOC 53-7062.00 · SOC 53-7062 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8