Part 1 of a 3 part series

Introduction

I have seen this question a lot. Being part of this industry for a long time, I strongly believe the logistics and supply chain industry is an interesting one. It covers an array of different industries, from the transportation, warehousing and shipping sectors to the manufacturing, retail and wholesale trade sectors. In addition, the industry is vast and can be very varied.

The idea about a career in this sector can many times be confusing. For most part, even at the global level the industry is fragmented. Though you would find a lot of jobs it’s usually not easy to trace a career path. Hence decided to come up with a series of posts on careers in logistics and supply chain management which can helpful to those who are looking forward for career in supply chain management.

In this part, I am going to prove that the future is bright for logisticians. Specifically, I am going to cover:

• Size of the logistics and supply chain industry
• Drivers of growth for logistics and supply chain industry
• Global growth in logistics and supply chain jobs
• Types of jobs available in logistics and supply chain industry

Size of the logistics and supply chain industry

First, we have to realize that the supply chain and logistics industry is a very BIG. Allied Market Research, in its recent report estimates that he supply chain management market was valued at $18,699.45 million in 2020, and is projected to reach $52,632.37 million by 2030, registering a CAGR of 10.7%.

Drivers of growth for the logistics and supply chain industry

Rapid digitisation driven by the global supply chain crisis, increase in usage of cloud based supply chain solutions, increased need for supply chain visibility, advancement in the fields of IoT, Artificial Intelligence, digitally enabled Forecasting and Optimization have been key drivers of growth of supply chains. This has generate a lot of employment opportunities all over the world.

Global growth in logistics and supply chain jobs

The US Bureau of labor statistics projects a job outlook of 30% growth during 2020-2030 for logisticians. In the US the 2020 median pay for logisticians was $76,270 per year or $36.67 per hour. The number of jobs in 2020 was 191,000 and 56,400 more jobs would be added during 2020-2030 period.

Driven by strong eCommerce growth during the last 18 months of the pandemic, the Middle East is also gearing up to compete. Most businesses like the Dubai based Aramex are investing in technologies that help digitize the supply chains such as Blockchain, the Internet of Things, Robotic Process Automation and Data Science. Top 10% of companies in the middle east are pumping 7% more funds into driving supply chain innovations.

Europe too is a growth hub for supply chain management jobs. Countries like Germany, France and UK are leading from the front . In fact, France is home for more than 150,000 logistics and supply chain companies and employs 1.8 Million people in logistics and supply chain jobs. Prospects.ac.uk reports that UK alone employs 1.7 million people, around 5% of the workforce, in the logistics and supply chain management sector.

Asia is not far behind. A McKinsey report estimates that Asian continent will account for 57% of growth in global logistics and supply chain industry. Another report by GlobalData suggests that the number of roles in the Asia Pacific made up 23.7% of total digitalization jobs. This number was only 11.1% in the same quarter last year.

Types of jobs available in logistics and supply chain industry

The job market for logistics and supply chain management jobs is dynamic and ever evolving. While new roles keep getting created as the industry evolves, broadly jobs can be found in the following areas.

• Supply Chain Design and Planning
• Procurement and Supply Management
• Freight Transportation
• Warehouse Design and Management
• Distribution Network Design and Planning
• Inventory Management and Control

To be continued

There is a bright future in the logistics and supply chain industry. In the next 10 years, the industry will continue to grow and provide opportunities for the right candidates.

While I covered the prospects of growth and development of careers in the logistics and supply chain management industry, in this part, I would continue sharing more information about the same in my upcoming posts. Watch the space.

Please do leave your feedback in the comments below. Would be glad to know what you feel and would love to interact with you on this subject.