Driving a Future-Ready Workforce in the Logistics & Warehousing Industry
The logistics, transportation, and warehousing labor market is gridlocked.
As a hands-on, labor intensive industry, severe worker shortages and increasing demand create pressures that automation can only alleviate so much. Competition for talent will continue to intensify, while the skills gap in technology and sustainability is at risk of widening. Leaders must focus on attracting younger workers, upskilling, and continuing to innovate in automation technologies.
Risk Factors
2.33
Occupation Risk Score
Truck driving roles are currently among the top 10 occupations filled by workers at or near retirement age. Currently, 1.2 million people are in this range, which threatens to leave critical gaps unfilled. The prime-age workforce is dwindling across planes, trains, and automobiles—according to Lightcast data, air transportation workers, locomotive engineers, and truck drivers each declined by 24%. Additionally, loss of prime-age workers spans well beyond operator roles. Truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists lost 16% of prime-age workers, and rail car repairers lost 13%. With a growing demand in e-commerce, and the resulting demand for warehouse workers, drivers, and logistics coordinators, these workforce dynamics are simply unsustainable unless organizations focus on obtaining and retaining talent.
2.62
Market Risk Score
As logistics and warehouse enterprises operate across the United States and beyond, market selection is a challenge traditionally driven by what is being transported or stored. Companies with lower market supply risk—or supply of prime-age workers—tend to concentrate in regional pockets, such as Texas, allowing access to both rural and urban populations. However, that is simply not an operational reality for the majority of companies—transnational travel requires regional hubs in strategic locations, such as Atlanta, Ga., Chicago, Ill., Dallas-Fort Worth, Tex., Los Angeles, Calif., New York City, N.Y., and Philadelphia, Pa.—all metropolitan areas that are seeing high rates of prime-worker exits, with Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia among the most severe in the study.
4.00
Industry Risk Score
Severe workforce shortages are affecting nearly every segment of this industry, especially in trucking, warehousing, and logistics coordination roles. A significant share of workers in this industry are approaching retirement or have already retired. Most employment gains are from foreign-born workers, who comprise 20% of transportation and utilities roles; however, an over-reliance on the immigrant population presents risks as geopolitical dynamics become less predictable. Complexities in training, compensation, and safety are deterring younger workers from engaging with this industry. Simultaneously, AI and automation technologies are not yet viable to fill workforce shortages, and with rubber to the road, companies do not have the option of offshoring operations.
2.54
AI Skills Gap Score
While the logistics and warehousing industry can’t be qualified as fully AI capable, there are indicators that it is becoming increasingly explored and adopted in operations. In critical roles, such as transportation, storage, and distribution managers, AI skills are growing quickly, and in sales representative roles, AI skills are established. While industrial truck and tractor operators and maintenance and repair workers are certainly lagging in AI skills exposure, they still have some exposure, which is important as automation technologies continue to rapidly evolve and the business case for their applications in these roles strengthens.
Logistics & Warehousing Organizations in the Fortune 1000
In the Workforce Risk Outlook, Lightcast found little correlation between workforce risk exposure and their Fortune 1000 ranking. C-suite leaders must align their workforce strategies with their quadrant position, as opposed to assuming their revenue makes them immune.
High Risk/High Scale to Address: Organizations in this quadrant face significant risk of being disrupted in their industry, but also have the financial resources to reduce their risk if they are proactive. These organizations should expand workforce retention programs with competitive wages and benefits and optimize operations through AI-powered route planning and warehouse automation.
High Risk/Lower Scale to Address: Organizations within the riskiest quadrant are lower on the competitive ladder and have less resources to address their incoming risk. These organizations must focus on streamlining last-mile delivery, adopting cross-training programs for warehouse staff, and leveraging partnerships with gig-based freight platforms to supplement workforce gaps.
Lower Risk/High Scale to Address: Organizations in this quadrant may not face immediate workforce shortages, but should remain proactive to maintain and reduce their exposure to risk. Expanding electrification initiatives, enhancing predictive logistics capabilities, and strengthening employee training in AI-driven inventory management can help sustain operational resilience and workforce stability.
Lower Risk/Lower Scale to Address: Organizations in this quadrant, if they are proactive, have a chance to be the disruptors. Specifically, they can disrupt industry competitors in the High Risk/High Scale quadrant. These organizations should focus on micro-fulfillment strategies, drone or autonomous delivery solutions, and real-time supply chain visibility tools to differentiate themselves from larger, risk-prone competitors.
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Solving Logistics & Warehousing Workforce Management
Talent Analyst
Strategies to Source Logistics and Warehousing Talent
Deep, localized insights on workforce availability, skill gaps, and competition in real-time is essential to identify critical skills shortages, like those in logistics coordination and trucking, and enable effective hiring strategies. Data-informed decisions on reskilling and upskilling from adjacent industries help broaden the talent pool and address certification and skills mismatching. Mapping regional variances in supply and demand to strategically target urban and rural areas where recruitment challenges are more intense better optimizes regional workforce planning and retention.
How Warehousing is Using Data to Attract Talent Across Locations
A warehousing and storage company operating across the US sought to expand into new markets, focusing on early career talent while optimizing recruitment. To attract and retain talent, they needed data-driven insights into job market trends, competitive compensation, and evolving skills, while aligning strategies across departments. Using Talent Analyst, it refined job postings, benchmarked roles against the market, and validated pay structures. It has identified skills gaps, streamlined recruitment, and adopted a data-backed strategy for hiring across departments.
Talent Transform
Strategies to Put Skills in the Driver’s Seat
Organizations will need to strengthen recruiting and retention efforts by defining and mapping specific skills needed for critical roles and building detailed profiles of each role’s skill requirements. This highlights gaps within the current workforce and directs reskilling efforts in the right direction. Skill-based pathways can assist in creating more accessible entry points for new talent entering the workforce, underutilized talent, or talent from other sectors or those without traditional certifications to gain competencies through targeted upskilling and reskilling programs.
How Logistics Companies are Adopting Outside-In Skills Strategy
A global leader in logistics and delivery faced challenges acquiring talent, especially in high-demand hourly roles, among talent shortages and high turnover. To establish clear career paths and optimize pay decisions, it used Talent Transform for labor market and competitor insights with comprehensive job, compensation, and skills data. With Lightcast’s Workday integration, it benchmarked pay at the ZIP code level, aligned compensation with market rates, addressed pay compression, retooled hourly hiring and pay strategies, and enhanced skill-based paths to upskill, retain, and attract talent.
