Warehouse jobs continue to surge amid major investments and automation uptick

Demand for storepeople in the national labour market has remained persistently elevated compared to pre-COVID times, reflecting the e-commerce boom which has demanded greater warehousing requirements. Since 2019, employment of storepeople has grown by 60% and 85% in major cities and regional Australia respectively, particularly emphasising the significance of these jobs in supporting local economies.

While warehouse work is usually described as a form of repetitive, manual labour, the nature of it is also changing, with constant technological advancement reducing handling requirements and instead involving greater interaction with inventory management systems. Illustrating the technical advances, Amazon’s planned$750 million warehouse in Queensland will be operated in large part by 2000 transport robots. The fulfilment centre is expected to provide permanent human jobs upon completion, with employee roles focused on quality control, decision-making and maintenance tasks. This example is one of many, with Coles investing $880million in constructing an Automated Distribution Centre in outer west Victoria.

While these examples describe new, highly automated operations, they still require many employees to operate, and with the boom in logistics and e-commerce, warehouse demand will continue to grow. With 166,600 storepeople already employed in Australia, jobs in the sector are projected to grow to just under 200,000 by 2035, with reporting suggesting an additional 1.7 million square metres of warehousing space will be required to meet consumer demand in the next five years. Perhaps that as automation becomes increasingly prevalent in modern warehouses, the job of the storeperson is likely to adapt and become more technology oriented, as opposed to being replaced entirely.

‍