www.dcvelocity.com MARCH 2017 DC VELOCITY 23
local demand for labor at a rate two to three times that
of traditional warehousing operations,” the report said.
DEMAND SPARKS WAGE GROWTH
The increasing demand for labor sparked by e-commerce, combined with a low national unemployment
rate (averaging around 4. 7 percent), is having a spillover
effect on traditional warehouse operations. Those facilities now must compete at higher wage thresholds for the
same shallow pool of workers, the report said.
On average, workers in industrial markets with elevated e-commerce leasing activity have seen 5.8-percent
annualized wage gains from 2013 to 2015. That is far
above the 2.7-percent national average wage growth rate,
making warehouse labor the U.S. occupation with the
fastest wage growth rate, according to the report.
Warehouse workers in Indianapolis and Dallas/Fort
Worth experienced annual wage increases of 6. 2 and
6. 3 percent, respectively, during the same period, while
the wage growth for all occupations in those areas over
the same time frame was just 0.8 percent and 3. 7 per-
cent, respectively, the report said. In the Inland Empire,
the annual median wage for laborers and freight stock
employees rose 8. 2 percent from 2010 to 2015, but only
by 4. 6 percent for all occupations, JLL said.
The labor challenge is unlikely to recede any time
soon, especially as e-commerce continues to suck more
of the air out of the property-leasing room. In a sign
of how quickly the pace of e-commerce growth has
eclipsed brick-and-mortar activity, from 2010 to 2014
e-commerce was the third most active industrial sector,
accounting for 16. 1 percent of all “big box” transactions
nationally. Traditional retail and consumer non-durables
each accounted for 16. 7 percent of the activity, JLL said.
—M.S.
Americold has announced the opening of its
latest facility, a 260,000-square-foot temperature-controlled operation in East Point, Ga.
ground breakers
