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Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand vs Recycling and Reclamation Workers

Side-by-side · O*NET · BLS · AI-exposure research · Anthropic Economic Index

A factual, source-backed comparison of Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand and Recycling and Reclamation Workers on the dimensions both occupations carry. Every figure is a position within an independent published dataset — not a verdict on which job is better, safer, or more “future-proof.”

Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand Recycling and Reclamation Workers
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$38,940
$38,940
Employment · BLS OEWS
2,982,530
2,982,530
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
12th pct
12th pct

At a glance

Dimension Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand Recycling and Reclamation Workers
Median pay $38,940 $38,940
Employment 2,982,530 2,982,530
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+1.5%) About average (+1.5%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 384,300 384,300
Typical education · O*NET Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not. Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Low · 12th pct Low · 12th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 6th pct · 12% of tasks 6th pct · 12% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — —
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman No No

Pay and employment are BLS OEWS estimates; outlook and openings are BLS 2024–2034 projections; AI exposure and observed-use figures come from separate research and reflect exposure and usage, not predictions that either job will disappear. Compare like with like.

Skills

Shared: Static Strength, Trunk Strength, Administration and Management, Customer and Personal Service, Multilimb Coordination, Public Safety and Security, Oral Comprehension, Manual Dexterity, Near Vision, Production and Processing, Oral Expression, Problem Sensitivity, Selective Attention, Arm-Hand Steadiness, Control Precision, Far Vision, English Language, Active Listening, Information Ordering, Category Flexibility, Finger Dexterity, Rate Control, Reaction Time, Speech Recognition, Speaking, Monitoring, Personnel and Human Resources, Depth Perception.

Specific to Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand

  • Transportation
  • Stamina
  • Extent Flexibility
  • Mathematics
  • Coordination
  • Deductive Reasoning
  • Dynamic Strength
  • Written Comprehension

Specific to Recycling and Reclamation Workers

  • Mechanical
  • Education and Training
  • Operation and Control
  • Operations Monitoring
  • Flexibility of Closure
  • Perceptual Speed
  • Speed of Limb Movement
  • Sales and Marketing

Knowledge, skills & abilities O*NET rates as important for each occupation. “Shared” are common to both; the columns list what is distinctive to each (top by the order O*NET surfaces).

Tools & technology

Shared: Word processing software , Spreadsheet software , Office suite software .

Specific to Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand

Specific to Recycling and Reclamation Workers

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand or Recycling and Reclamation Workers — tasks, the full skill graph, tools, work context, preparation, wages by percentile, industries, AI exposure and the AI work map.

More comparisons

Related occupations you can place side by side on the same sourced scale.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand vs Recycling and Reclamation Workers." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/compare/laborers-and-freight-stock-and-material-movers-hand-vs-recycling-and-reclamation-workers

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand vs Recycling and Reclamation Workers. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/laborers-and-freight-stock-and-material-movers-hand-vs-recycling-and-reclamation-workers

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-laborers-and-freight-stock-and-material-movers-hand-vs-recycling-and-reclamation-workers,
  title  = {Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand vs Recycling and Reclamation Workers},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/compare/laborers-and-freight-stock-and-material-movers-hand-vs-recycling-and-reclamation-workers}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.