760,000 people work in warehousing in the UK, over 70% more than official figures have suggested, new analysis reveals.
The Office for National Statistics reports that around 440,000 workers were employed in the industry in 2025, but this is a substantial underestimate as it does not take account of the many warehousing and storage roles in other sectors, including retail and manufacturing.
The analysis, conducted for the UK Warehousing Association by Kirsten Tisdale, from logistics consultancy Aricia, sheds light on the true scale of UK Warehousing. Even using the ONS’s incomplete figure, jobs in the sector have risen by 40% since 2011, well ahead of the economy at large. Job numbers as a whole have increased by only 14%.
Growth in online retail has contributed to the rise in employment. However, research by Savills and the UKWA in 2024 showed that third party logistics providers and high street retail both took up more warehousing space than online retail.
The UKWA argues that politicians need to recognise that warehousing is now one of the UK’s most important industries for jobs, and the Government needs to support careers pathways in the sector.
Clare Bottle, CEO of the UKWA, said:
“These figures give us the clearest picture yet of the real contribution of the warehousing sector to the UK. Perceptions have not caught up, however, and too many people still think of jobs in our industry as dirty, cold, manual labour. The truth is that warehousing is brilliant at both creating entry-level opportunities and giving people a career ladder to climb.
“Our members face just as big a gap in finding team leaders and supervisors as they do in recruiting warehouse operatives. A major part of the issue is that the apprenticeship system has not been working for logistics, with companies only being able to use about a third of the money they have paid into the Apprenticeship Levy.
“We urgently need Skills England to approve the Warehouse Manager apprenticeship, to support career development for people joining the sector, drive productivity, and ultimately help the entire economy to grow.”
UKWA is exhibiting at Multimodal on stand 3001
