Forklift operator jobs in Reading

Forklift work is counted inside warehousing and storage, which comes to 2,250 employee jobs in Reading, from 121,000 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 2.5% of employment in Reading.

Median full-time pay in Reading was £49,062 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 20 warehousing and storage sites in Reading at the March 2025 reference date, 0 of them employing ten people or more. Business counts are rounded one cell at a time, so the bands sit loosely against the total. 15 of them, 75%, 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 Reading, 300 are part time, 13% of the split. The middle across the South East is 13%, so Reading sits level with it, 10th of 19 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 Reading picture: 150 employee jobs in freight transport by road, and 625 employee jobs in postal and courier activities.

Measured on employee jobs across freight, warehousing and courier work, Reading ranks 9th of the 19 areas in the South East. The middle across the South East is 2,400, against 3,025 in Reading. Across the 153 areas in England the middle is 2,975. Next to Reading in that order sit Buckinghamshire at 3,700 and Southampton at 2,400.

On the separate business register count of warehousing and storage sites, Reading ranks 13th of the 19 areas in the South East. The middle across the South East is 25, against 20 in Reading. Across the 153 areas in England the middle is 35. Next to Reading in that order sit Portsmouth at 20 and Slough at 20.

None of these counts is a vacancy figure. They describe 2,250 jobs across 20 warehousing sites as the surveys found them in Reading, and the live list above is what is open now.