Richmond, Virginia, registered the biggest gain in warehouse hiring in the past five quarters while Memphis, Tennessee, had the largest drop, as consumer demand slumped and cities in the United States overall posted mixed results, according to research firm Oxford Economics.
E-commerce remains a major force in retail and continues to fuel the need for space and creation of jobs in the warehousing and storage industry. But Oxford analysts reported that just 14 of the largest 50 warehousing job markets, based on the size of company payrolls, posted growth in their rates of warehouse-related hiring between the second quarter of 2022 and the third quarter of 2023.
Based on federal employment data, Oxford researchers said the biggest gainers during that span included Richmond at 7.3%, Los Angeles at 6.9%, Sacramento, California, at 4.2% and Chicago at 3.6%.
Regions posting the steepest declines in warehouse hiring included Memphis at 16.2%; New Haven, Connecticut at 13.8%; Minneapolis at 9.9%; and New York at 8.9%. Nationwide warehouse hiring has declined 2.8% since the second quarter of 2022.
Analysts said warehouse job growth in most U.S. regions has slowed from rates posted between early 2018 and mid-2022, though warehouse employment in some regions is still growing faster than general employment.
“Given the recent correction in the warehouse and logistics sector over the last five quarters as well as the deceleration in both total job growth and retail sales growth, we forecast that warehousing jobs will grow at slower rates over the next five years than past years,” Oxford Economics Senior Economist Barbara Denham said in a statement.