AI exposure: Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand
Manually move freight, stock, luggage, or other materials, or perform other general labor. Includes all manual laborers not elsewhere classified.
Reading this score
computedAt 16.4% of weighted task load, Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand sits at the 27th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 76.6% of what this role does is untouched, meaning current systems cannot produce that work at all, whatever the commercial incentive.
What holds the line here is embodiment. Across this occupation's 13 tasks it averages 2.62 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work has to happen in physical space. A language model cannot move matter. Until the robotics to do this work is both good enough and cheap enough to deploy widely, capability in software does not reach it.
The most exposed thing this job does is Record numbers of units handled or moved, at 73.3%. The least is Connect electrical equipment to power sources so that it can be tested before use, at 0.0%. A gap of 73.3% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within transportation and material moving occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 24.3% across the group's 52 roles, with 37 scoring higher. Being in an exposed family does not make a particular job exposed, and the reverse holds too.
What would move this score. Of 13 tasks, 3 are currently banded exposed, 0 assisted and 10 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take robotics cheap and reliable enough to deploy at scale, not a better language model. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 0.69 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 2.62 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.27 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.58 | 0-3 |
| Context | 0.65 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 0.88 | 0-3 |
Task by task
13 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record numbers of units handled or moved, using daily production sheets or work tickets. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 4.02 | exposed |
| Read work orders or receive oral instructions to determine work assignments or material or equipment needs. | 55.0% | 20.0% | 25.0% | 4.13 | exposed |
| Maintain equipment storage areas to ensure that inventory is protected. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 4.48 | exposed |
| Move freight, stock, or other materials to and from storage or production areas, loading docks, delivery vehicles, ships, or containers, by hand or using trucks, tractors, or other equipment. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.05 | untouched |
| Install protective devices, such as bracing, padding, or strapping, to prevent shifting or damage to items being transported. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.52 | untouched |
| Sort cargo before loading and unloading. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.26 | untouched |
| Attach identifying tags to containers or mark them with identifying information. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.14 | untouched |
| Attach slings, hooks, or other devices to lift cargo and guide loads. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.97 | untouched |
| Carry needed tools or supplies from storage or trucks and return them after use. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.58 | untouched |
| Pack containers and re-pack damaged containers. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.29 | untouched |
| Assemble product containers or crates, using hand tools and precut lumber. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.24 | untouched |
| Adjust controls to guide, position, or move equipment, such as cranes, booms, or cameras. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.12 | untouched |
| Connect electrical equipment to power sources so that it can be tested before use. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 2.86 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.
What this means in practice
Most of this work is not reachable by current systems, so the immediate pressure is on the administrative edges of the role rather than its core: the scheduling, the reporting, the written records. That is where time is recovered.