Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators

Overview

Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators has a national median salary of $46,420 per year, with +1.5% projected job growth from 2025–2035. The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists no formal educational credential as the typical education needed to enter this occupation.

Description

Operate industrial trucks or tractors equipped to move materials around a warehouse, storage yard, factory, construction site, or similar location.

Work Values

• Support
• Relationships
• Independence

Work Styles

Responsibilities

Tasks

• Move levers or controls that operate lifting devices, such as forklifts, lift beams with swivel-hooks, hoists, or elevating platforms, to load, unload, transport, or stack material.
• Move controls to drive gasoline- or electric-powered trucks, cars, or tractors and transport materials between loading, processing, and storage areas.
• Manually or mechanically load or unload materials from pallets, skids, platforms, cars, lifting devices, or other transport vehicles.
• Position lifting devices under, over, or around loaded pallets, skids, or boxes and secure material or products for transport to designated areas.
• Inspect product load for accuracy and safely move it around the warehouse or facility to ensure timely and complete delivery.

Work Activities

• Operating Vehicles, Mechanized Devices, or Equipment
• Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials
• Handling and Moving Objects
• Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events
• Performing General Physical Activities
• Making Decisions and Solving Problems
• Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work
• Getting Information
• Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings
• Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates

Detailed Work Activities

• Running, maneuvering, navigating, or driving vehicles or mechanized equipment, such as forklifts, passenger vehicles, aircraft, or watercraft.
• Inspecting equipment, structures, or materials to identify the cause of errors or other problems or defects.
• Using hands and arms in handling, installing, positioning, and moving materials, and manipulating things.
• Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.
• Performing general physical activities includes doing activities that require considerable use of your arms and legs and moving your whole body, such as climbing, lifting, balancing, walking, stooping, and handling materials.
• Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
• Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.
• Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
• Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems.
• Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.

T-A-S-K

Technology, Abilities, Skills & Knowledge

Education

Education Levels of Current Workers

The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists no formal educational credential as the typical education needed to enter this occupation. The chart below shows the highest level of education held by people already working in this field, ages 25 and older. It includes workers who earned more education than the job requires and workers who entered the field under earlier requirements, so the largest bar is not the entry requirement. For example, if someone finished an associate's degree and then started working in this field, they are counted under “Associate's degree” here, but the job itself typically asks for no formal educational credential.

Certificates

Certifications applicable to Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators:

Video Resources