20 WESTERN PALLET
Employment Trends and Ideas
Cont'd from Page 18
Fewer Workers Needed
Given the dampened pallet market after the COVID blip, the demand for pallet plant labor has slowed. Given that wages generally have not come back down, companies are looking to avoid additional hires and curb overtime. Many companies are looking to automation to further reduce their labor input per pallet. Some companies that ordered automated systems a year or two ago have yet to take delivery.
Ongoing innovation by equipment suppliers is allowing for more jobs than ever before to become automated, from stacking boards to dismantling to pallet sorting.
Fewer Workers Available
Although demand is not strong, finding job candidates is still challenging. Pallet industry wages generally fall below overall averages. For example, from the table above, compare the highest listed pallet repair wage rate of $22 in Berkeley, California, relative to the US Fed average of over $30.
Investments in automation are being made to fill the void. New equipment makes some jobs less physically demanding, which can broaden the candidate pool and hopefully entice employees to stay.
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Cities with the highest pallet repair labor, September 2024. Source: Ziprecruiter.