First-Line Supervisors of Material-Moving Machine and Vehicle Operators

Low Risk
Low High

Explore safer careers (2)

Lower estimated automation risk

Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers
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Why it fits

Natural management path using dispatch, yard flow, labor planning, equipment, and service metrics.

Supply Chain Managers
21% automation risk | Low Risk
Pays better Higher growth
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Why it fits

Builds on distribution operations, staffing, throughput, inventory movement, and vendor coordination.

Alternative careers

Related career paths that build on similar skills and experience

Logisticians
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Why it fits

Applies dispatch and material-flow experience to performance data, routing, and capacity analysis.

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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

33% (Low Risk)

Low Risk (21-40%): This occupation has a lower risk of full replacement by AI, software, or robotic systems. Some tasks may be automated or assisted, but the role usually still relies on human judgement, communication, responsibility, physical adaptability, or practical decision-making.

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.

Coordinating others’ work

Very important
Why this matters
Bringing people together, assigning tasks, and keeping a group aligned so work gets done.
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Decision-making and problem solving

Very 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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Coaching and developing others

Very 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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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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Persuasion

Quite important
Why this matters
Influencing people to change their minds or behavior through conversation, trust, and negotiation.
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Show 4 more strengths

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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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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Psychology knowledge

Quite important
Why this matters
Understanding human behavior, motivation, and individual differences to assess needs, respond appropriately, and support behavior change or mental health.
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Active learning

Quite important
Why this matters
Keeps learning from new information and applying it to make better decisions now and in the future, especially when situations change.
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What users think

Based on 3 votes

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that First-Line Supervisors of Material-Moving Machine and Vehicle Operators 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 activities of material-moving machine and vehicle operators and helpers.

O*NET-SOC code: 53-1043.00