Dive Brief:

• The number of workers seeking warehouse jobs has risen 8% over the past two years, according to a report by Indeed Hiring Lab. However, 50% or more of the job-seekers are already employed in the sector.
• Generation X has been most active in seeking warehouse employment, according to Indeed's research. Millennials are least likely to be interested in the sector.
• Over all, warehouse employment has risen 90% since 2000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Meanwhile, the average employment growth in that period was 12%.

Dive Insight:

Interest in warehouse jobs is concurrent with hiring need.

Pay for warehouse work rose 6% from 2016 to 2017, while warehouse size and job growth also expanded. Amazon Jobs Day, held well in advance of peak season, drew at least 20,000 applicants at one location alone.

So, what's spurring applicants, especially in a field known to pay less than average?

"Warehousing jobs do not just involve manual labor, although that is common," Andrew Flowers, an economist at Indeed.com told Supply Chain Dive. "Warehousing workers are relatively more experienced than retail workers, for example, in moving objects, operating machinery, and with written communication."

In other words, warehousing challenges workers differently than retail, and many applicants find that difference appealing.

"Warehousing jobs are booming thanks to e-commerce. Over the past year, employment in warehousing has grown at double the pace of average US job growth," Flowers said. 

"Supply chain managers should know that e-commerce is primarily driving the growing demand for warehouse workers, and that in the current labor market — with unemployment low and workers sometimes hard to find — it might be difficult to hire qualified warehouse workers at current wages," he added.