Forklift operator jobs in Essex

Forklift work is counted inside warehousing and storage, which comes to 6,000 employee jobs in Essex, from 616,000 employee jobs across the area.

That count covers whole sites rather than truck types, so counterbalance on the bays, reach in the racking and VNA in the narrow aisles are all inside it, together with the picking most operators also do. Freight, warehousing and courier work together make up 2% of employment in Essex.

Median full-time pay in Essex was £38,098 a year in 2025 across all occupations combined. Forklift work is not published separately at this level, so treat that as area context and read the rate on the advert.

UK Business Counts recorded 210 warehousing and storage sites in Essex at the March 2025 reference date, 75 of them employing ten people or more. Business counts are rounded one cell at a time, so the bands sit loosely against the total. 130 of them, 61.9%, employ under ten, well below the usual share. Large sites use the full range of truck types, so a ticket beyond counterbalance is worth more here.

Of the warehousing and storage employee jobs the 2024 survey splits by hours in Essex, 600 are part time, 10.7% of the split. The middle across the East of England is 12.2%, so Essex sits below it, 8th of 11 areas on this measure. That is a full-time shift pattern with part-time hours around the edges of it.

Two further counts round out the Essex picture: 4,500 employee jobs in freight transport by road, and 1,825 employee jobs in postal and courier activities.

Measured on employee jobs across freight, warehousing and courier work, Essex ranks 2nd of the 11 areas in the East of England. The middle across the East of England is 6,925, against 12,325 in Essex. Across the 153 areas in England the middle is 2,975. Next to Essex in that order sit Thurrock at 14,475 and Hertfordshire at 12,300.

On the separate business register count of warehousing and storage sites, Essex ranks 1st of the 11 areas in the East of England. The middle across the East of England is 65, against 210 in Essex. Across the 153 areas in England the middle is 35. Next to Essex in that order sit Hertfordshire at 165.

None of these counts is a vacancy figure. They describe 6,000 jobs across 210 warehousing sites as the surveys found them in Essex, and the live list above is what is open now.