Industries at a Glance: Warehousing and Storage: NAICS 493

Industries in the Warehousing and Storage subsector are primarily engaged in operating warehousing and storage facilities for general merchandise, refrigerated goods, and other warehouse products. These establishments provide facilities to store goods. They do not sell the goods they handle. These establishments take responsibility for storing the goods and keeping them secure. They may also provide a range of services, often referred to as logistics services, related to the distribution of goods. Logistics services can include labeling, breaking bulk, inventory control and management, light assembly, order entry and fulfillment, packaging, pick and pack, price marking and ticketing, and transportation arrangement. However, establishments in this industry group always provide warehousing or storage services in addition to any logistic services. Furthermore, the warehousing or storage of goods must be more than incidental to the performance of services, such as price marking.

North American Industry Classification System

The warehousing and storage subsector consists of a single industry group, Warehousing and Storage: NAICS 4931.

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment in warehousing and storage. These data are obtained from employer or establishment surveys. The following tables present an overview of the industry including the number of jobs, mass layoffs, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment and Layoffs

Extended Mass Layoffs

Employment by Occupation

Projections

Data series	Jan. 2013	Feb. 2013	Mar. 2013	Apr. 2013
Employment (in thousands)
Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)	690.6	688.1	(P) 687.5	(P) 685.3
Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees	584.4	581.6	(P) 582.4
Layoffs
Mass layoff events	5	4	6	8
Initial claimants for unemployment benefits	332	255	355	695
Footnotes (P) Preliminary

Data series	2nd quarter 2012	3rd quarter 2012	4th quarter 2012	1st quarter 2013
Extended mass layoff events	8	(1) -	(1) (P) -	(P) 4
Separations	1,361	(1) -	(1) (P) -	(P) 390
Initial claimants	1,172	(1) -	(1) (P) -	(P) 415
Footnotes (1) Data do not meet BLS or state agency disclosure standards. (P) Preliminary

Data series	Employment, 2012
Industrial truck and tractor operators	74,800
Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand	172,040
Shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks	31,070
Stock clerks and order fillers	56,520
Transportation, storage, and distribution managers	8,230

For projected (future) employment estimates, see the National Employment Matrix, which includes employment estimates by industry and occupation for warehousing and storage.

This section presents data on employee earnings and weekly hours. The latest industry averages of hourly earnings and weekly hours are shown. In addition, recent hourly and annual earnings are shown for occupations commonly found in warehousing and storage.

Earnings and Hours of All Employees

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees

Earnings by Occupation

This section presents data for the industry on the number of workplace fatalities and the rates of workplace injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers in warehousing and storage. An injury or illness is considered to be work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition.

This section provides industry-specific pricing information. The producer price index measures the percentage change in prices that domestic producers receive for goods and services. The prices included in the producer price index are from the first commercial transaction.

This section presents data on the number of establishments in warehousing and storage.

Data series	Dec. 2012	Jan. 2013	Feb. 2013	Mar. 2013
Average hourly earnings	$18.10	$18.32	$18.12	(P) $18.12
Average weekly hours	43.3	40.7	41.1	(P) 41.4
Footnotes (P) Preliminary

Data series	Dec. 2012	Jan. 2013	Feb. 2013	Mar. 2013
Average hourly earnings	$15.60	$15.64	$15.23	(P) $15.16
Average weekly hours	43.6	40.5	41.0	(P) 42.0
Footnotes (P) Preliminary

Data series	Wages, 2012
	Hourly		Annual
	Median	Mean	Median	Mean
Industrial truck and tractor operators	$14.52	$15.15	$30,200	$31,520
Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand	$13.57	$14.16	$28,230	$29,450
Shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks	$14.55	$15.12	$30,270	$31,440
Stock clerks and order fillers	$13.84	$14.53	$28,780	$30,220
Transportation, storage, and distribution managers	$36.18	$38.72	$75,260	$80,530

Data series	2008	2009	2010	2011
Fatalities
Number of fatalities	14	17	20	16
Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers
Total recordable cases	6.8	5.9	5.9	5.5
Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer	4.8	4.3	4.1	3.8
Cases involving days away from work	2.0	1.7	1.8	1.8
Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction	2.9	2.6	2.4	1.9
Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

Data series	Jan. 2013	Feb. 2013	Mar. 2013	Apr. 2013
Producer price index	(P) 100.7	(P) 100.7	(P) 99.9	(P) 100.2
Percent change from previous month	(P) -0.1%	(P) 0.0%	(P) -0.8%	(P) 0.3%
Footnotes (P) Preliminary

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics