Hand packers and packagers: Salary, career path, job outlook, education and more
Hand packers and packagers package a variety of materials by hand. They may label cartons, inspect items for defects, and keep records of items packed. Some of these workers pack materials for shipment and move them to a loading dock. Hand packers in grocery stores, also known as grocery baggers, bag groceries for customers at checkout.
- Education Required
- There are no formal educational requirements for anyone to become a hand laborer or material mover.
- Training Required
- Most positions for hand laborers and material movers require less than 1 month of on-the-job training. Some workers need only a few days of training, and most training is done by a supervisor or a more experienced worker who decides when trainees are ready to work on their own.
- Job Outlook
-
The projected percent change in employment from 2016 to 2026: 7% (As fast as average)
(The average growth rate for all occupations is 7 percent.) - Licenses/Certifications
- Refuse and recyclable material collectors who drive trucks that exceed a certain capacitysuch as vehicles with the combined weight of the vehicle, passengers, and cargo exceeding 26,000 poundsmust have a commercial drivers license (CDL). Obtaining a CDL requires passing written, skill, and vision tests.
- Median pay: How much do Hand Laborers and Material Movers make?
- $24,880 Annual Salary
- $11.96 per hour
Careers for Hand Laborers and Material Movers
- Aircraft cleaners
- Auto cleaners
- Auto detailers
- Automobile cleaners
- Automobile detailers
- Baggers
- Beer coil cleaners
- Boat detailers
- Brick offbearers
- Bus cleaners
- Bus washers
- Car wash attendants
- Car washers
- Cargo handlers
- Cart pushers
- Carton wrappers
- Chain offbearers
- Chopper feeders
- Cleaners of vehicles and equipment
- Doffers
- Dryer feeders
- Egg packers
- Equipment cleaners
- Freight handlers
- Garbage collectors
- Gift wrappers
- Grave diggers
- Grocery store baggers
- Hand laborers and freight, stock, and material movers
- Hopper feeders
- Hopper fillers
- Line feeders
- Machine cleaners
- Machine feeders and offbearers
- Manufacturing laborers
- Material handlers
- Meat packagers
- Meat wrappers
- Offbearers
- Package handlers
- Package machine can feeders
- Railroad car cleaners
- Recyclable materials collectors
- Refuse and recyclable material collectors
- Refuse collectors
- Sanitation workers
- Scrap metal collectors
- Shipping and receiving material handlers
- Solid waste collectors
- Spike machine feeders
- Spinning doffers
- Spooler operators
- Stock movers
- Trash collectors
- Truck washers
- Utility baggers
- Van loaders
- Wharf laborers