Pallet Industry Employment Trends and Ideas
In good times and bad, employee recruitment and retention is a topic that remains top of mind. Not surprisingly, the employment trends of the wood pallet industry follow the overall labor market for production workers. This report explores some trends driving the market and additional ideas to broaden your potential labor pool.
Higher Wages
As for the overall market, pallet industry wages have increased markedly since the COVID-19 pandemic. Industrial Reporting’s 2022-2023 Wage and Human Resources Survey found that industry wages have risen on average by 23 to 47% since its 2019-2020 survey, depending upon the job. No surprise, looking at a wage report for production labor from the US Federal Reserve, we see an uptick generally, with a 28.2% increase in the five years spanning July 2019 to July 2024
As for the pallet sector in particular, a quick survey of major job sites such as Monster.com, Indeed.com and Craigslist reveals advertised wages that range from $12 to $25 nationally, depending upon the job and region. Not surprisingly, more skilled jobs such as making custom crates, feature higher starting wages than pallet repair labor.
Here is a sampling of jobs we noted:
- Corry, PA $16.50, pallet/box assembly
- Livonia, MI $21, pallet repair
- Martinsburg, WV $17, sorting machine
operator
- Fort Worth, TX $15 pallet repair
- Jacksonville, FL $15.00/hr. - $25.00/hr with piece rate, custom pallet builder
- Los Angeles $22 to $24 custom crate
building
- Southern California $19 wood box
assembly
- Southern California $28.50 pallet repair
Ziprecruiter shows an average national wage of $17 for pallet repair workers as of September 2024. Of the cities paying higher than the average, six of the top ten were in California and another in Washington.
Production labor rates have increased over 28% in the last five years, now over $30 per hour. Cont'd on Page 20
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