First-Line Supervisors of Helpers, Laborers, and Material Movers, Hand

Moderate Risk
Low High

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Occupation snapshot

What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
5.4/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

45% (Moderate Risk)

Moderate Risk (41-60%): This occupation may be meaningfully affected by automation. Some parts of the role may be suitable for AI, software, or robotics, while others still rely on human skill, judgement, trust, or real-world context. People in this range may benefit from building skills that complement automation and reduce replacement risk.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Human strengths important in this job

These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.

Managing and developing people

Quite important
Why this matters
Motivate, coach, and direct others, and make hiring and staffing decisions. These people-focused responsibilities rely on judgment, trust, and interpersonal skill and are harder to replace end-to-end with automation.
Jobs that also use this strength

Thinking creatively

Quite important
Why this matters
Coming up with original ideas and designs—creating new concepts, products, systems, or artistic work. This kind of open-ended invention and taste-based judgment is harder to automate end-to-end than routine, rule-based tasks.
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Social perceptiveness

Quite important
Why this matters
Noticing others’ emotions and reactions in the moment and adjusting what you say or do based on why they’re responding that way.
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Negotiation

Quite important
Why this matters
Bringing people together to reconcile differences, trade off priorities, and reach agreements—work that depends on trust, persuasion, and reading the situation.
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Decision-making and problem solving

Quite important
Why this matters
Analyze information, weigh tradeoffs, and choose the best solution—especially when situations are ambiguous, high-stakes, or have real-world consequences.
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Show 3 more strengths

Coaching and developing others

Quite important
Why this matters
Helps people learn and improve through coaching, mentoring, and feedback. This relies on trust, motivation, and adapting guidance to each person—work that’s hard to replace end-to-end with automation.
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Developing objectives and strategies

Quite important
Why this matters
Sets long-term goals and chooses strategies and actions to reach them, weighing tradeoffs and adapting plans as conditions change.
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Communicating with people outside the organization

Quite important
Why this matters
Represents the organization to customers, the public, or government—handling questions, concerns, and relationship-building through conversations, writing, calls, or email.
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What users think

Based on 7 votes

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that First-Line Supervisors of Helpers, Laborers, and Material Movers, Hand will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

Pay & outlook

Wages

Moderately paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for First-Line Supervisors of Transportation and Material Moving Workers, Except Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors was $61,890 ($30 per hour).

The median annual wage for First-Line Supervisors of Transportation and Material Moving Workers, Except Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors was 25.0% higher than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Fast growth relative to other professions

The number of 'First-Line Supervisors of Transportation and Material Moving Workers, Except Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors' job openings is expected to rise 3.7% by 2034

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Volume

Significantly greater range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 605,510 people employed as 'First-Line Supervisors of Transportation and Material Moving Workers, Except Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors' within the United States.

This represents around 0.39% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 254 people are employed as 'First-Line Supervisors of Transportation and Material Moving Workers, Except Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors'.

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Job description

Directly supervise and coordinate the activities of helpers, laborers, or material movers, hand.

O*NET-SOC code: 53-1042.00