Material recording clerks held about 3.1 million jobs in 2018. Employment in the detailed occupations that make up material recording clerks was distributed as follows:
| Stock clerks and order fillers | 2,056,600 |
| Shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks | 662,600 |
| Production, planning, and expediting clerks | 358,700 |
| Weighers, measurers, checkers, and samplers, recordkeeping | 66,300 |
The largest employers of material recording clerks were as follows:
| Food and beverage stores | 18% |
| Manufacturing | 13 |
| Wholesale trade | 13 |
Stock clerks and order fillers usually work in retail settings and sometimes help customers. Production, planning, and expediting clerks; shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks; and material and product inspecting clerks usually work in an office inside a warehouse or manufacturing plant.
Although shipping clerks and material inspecting clerks prepare reports in an office, they also spend time in the warehouse, where they sometimes handle packages or automatic equipment such as conveyor systems.
Injuries and Illnesses
Some material recording clerks may need to lift heavy items and bend frequently, which can lead to injury. Using proper lifting techniques can help to reduce the risk of harm.
Work Schedules
Production, planning, and expediting clerks; shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks; and material and product inspecting clerks usually work full time. Some clerks work nights and weekends or holidays when large shipments arrive.
Stock clerks and order fillers, the largest occupation within this profile, usually work part time. Evening and weekend work is common because they work when retail stores are open. They sometimes work overnight shifts when large shipments arrive or when it is time to take inventory.
Material recording clerks typically need a high school diploma or equivalent and are trained on the job.
Education
Material recording clerks typically need a high school diploma or equivalent.
Production, planning, and expediting clerks need to have basic knowledge of computer applications such as spreadsheet software.
Training
Material recording clerks usually learn to do their work on the job. Training for most material recording clerks may last less than a month. Production, planning, and expediting clerks’ training can take several months.
Typically, a supervisor or more experienced worker trains new clerks.
Material recording clerks first learn to count stock and mark inventory, and then move onto more difficult tasks, such as recordkeeping. Production clerks need to learn how their company operates before they can write production and work schedules.
Advancement
With additional training or education, material recording clerks may advance to other positions within their firm, such as purchasing agent. Clerks in retail establishments can move into the sales department.
Material recording clerks typically have an interest in the Building, Persuading and Organizing interest areas, according to the Holland Code framework. The Building interest area indicates a focus on working with tools and machines, and making or fixing practical things. The Persuading interest area indicates a focus on influencing, motivating, and selling to other people. The Organizing interest area indicates a focus on working with information and processes to keep things arranged in orderly systems.
If you are not sure whether you have a Building or Persuading or Organizing interest which might fit with a career as a material recording clerk, you can take a career test to measure your interests.
Material recording clerks should also possess the following specific qualities:
Clerical skills . Typing, filing, and recordkeeping are common tasks for most material recording clerks.
Communication skills. Production, planning, and expediting clerks are frequently in contact with suppliers, vendors, and production managers and need to be able to communicate the firm’s scheduling needs effectively..
Customer-service skills . Stock clerks sometimes interact with customers in retail stores and may have to get the item the customer is looking for from the storeroom.
Detail oriented. Material inspectors check items for defects, some of which are small and difficult to spot.
Math skills. Some types of material recording clerks are required to have basic math skills. For example, they might use math to calculate shipping costs or take measurements.
The median annual wage for material recording clerks was $30,010 in May 2019. The median wage is the wage at which half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $21,210, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $50,840.
Median annual wages for material recording clerks in May 2019 were as follows:
| Production, planning, and expediting clerks | $48,260 |
| Weighers, measurers, checkers, and samplers, recordkeeping | 35,040 |
| Shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks | 34,190 |
| Stock clerks and order fillers | 27,380 |
In May 2019, the median annual wages for material recording clerks in the top industries in which they worked were as follows:
| Manufacturing | $37,840 |
| Wholesale trade | 33,200 |
| Food and beverage stores | 25,730 |
Production, planning, and expediting clerks; shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks; and material and product inspecting clerks usually work full time. Some clerks work nights and weekends or holidays when large shipments arrive.
Stock clerks and order fillers, the largest occupation within this profile, usually work part time. Evening and weekend work is common because they work when retail stores are open. They sometimes work overnight shifts when large shipments arrive or when it is time to take inventory.
Overall employment of material recording clerks is projected to show little or no change from 2018 to 2028. Employment growth will vary by occupation (see table below).
Although increased use of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags should allow stock clerks to more quickly locate an item or count inventory in some retail stores, stocking shelves and filling orders will still require these workers.
In warehouses, both RFID tags and increased use of other technology, such as hand-held devices that read barcodes automatically, allow fewer clerks to do the same amount of work. In addition, use of barcodes, electronic and optical readers, and RFID tags is expected to increase accuracy in shipping, thereby reducing the number of times a product needs to be weighed, checked, or measured.
As retail continues to move from traditional brick-and-mortar stores to online commerce, retailers will seek to automate warehouse operations, including using what are known as “collaborative robots.” These new robots can help workers perform tasks and increase efficiency. However, this increased efficiency may reduce the demand for some material recording clerks.
Production, planning, and expediting clerks plan and schedule production and shipment processes, functions that remain difficult to substitute with technology.
For more information about material recording clerks, visit
Warehousing Education and Research Council
CareerOneStop
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