Industrial truck and tractor operators job market in South Dakota
Industry trends, wages and hiring signals.
The headline
Industry employment fell while average weekly industry wages rose
A data-driven view of the industries that employ Industrial truck and tractor operators in South Dakota.
Occupation pay
What Industrial truck and tractor operators earn in South Dakota
BLS OEWS occupation-level pay estimates for this role — separate from the industry wage trends used elsewhere in this report.
Median annual wage
$47,410South Dakota- Middle 50% of published wages
- $43,320 – $54,770
- U.S. median annual wage
- $46,420
- Reference period
- May 2025
The middle 50% is the 25th-to-75th percentile wage range, not an experience-level band. Suppressed or unavailable BLS values remain unpublished rather than being estimated.
Pay around South Dakota
How median pay varies by metro area
Published BLS OEWS metro estimates for Industrial truck and tractor operators, compared with the South Dakota median of $47,410.
Sioux Falls, SD-MN$47,410Same as state at displayed precision
Rapid City, SD$45,930−3.1% vs. state
Sioux City, IA-NE-SD$45,470−4.1% vs. state
Areas are ordered by published median wage for readability, not as an overall job-market ranking. The vertical marker is the South Dakota median. Some BLS metropolitan areas cross state lines, so a metro estimate can cover workers in more than one state.
Verified snapshot
Market at a Glance
Key changes in South Dakota’s weighted industry mix.
Percentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
Published coverage: 9,596 represented establishments, 85.99% of the published industry mix.
Latest interpretation
What stands out for industrial truck and tractor operators in South Dakota
The clearest signals from the latest validated state industry context and occupation-pay data.
South Dakota leads the U.S. on weighted-industry employment
Employment across the industries associated with Industrial truck and tractor operators changed -0.2% year over year in South Dakota, 0.7 percentage points above the national change of -0.9%. This is weighted industry context, not direct occupation employment.
BLS QCEW weighted industry contextOccupation pay is close to the national median
The published median annual wage for Industrial truck and tractor operators in South Dakota is $47,410, 2.1% above the U.S. median of $46,420.
BLS OEWS occupation payNone of the leading weighted industries is growing
None of the 3 leading weighted industry groups with published values reported positive employment growth. Trade, transportation, and utilities was strongest at -0.2%.
BLS QCEW weighted industry contextIndustry measures describe the industries associated with this occupation. They are not direct occupation employment, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score.
Employment trends
South Dakota industry employment over time
Year-over-year change in the weighted industries. The U.S. line is the latest-quarter benchmark because a comparable national quarterly history is not published here.
- South Dakota · 2026 Q1-0.2%
- U.S. · latest-quarter benchmark-0.9%
The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.
View every published value
| Quarter | South Dakota | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 Q2 | +0.8% | 100% |
| 2024 Q3 | +0.1% | 100% |
| 2024 Q4 | -0.1% | 100% |
| 2025 Q1 | -0.4% | 99.09% |
| 2025 Q2 | -0.4% | 97.92% |
| 2025 Q3 | -0.8% | 97.92% |
| 2025 Q4 | -0.3% | 97.92% |
| 2026 Q1 | -0.2% | 97.76% |
How to read this chart
State trend and national reference
The solid line follows South Dakota’s published year-over-year industry employment changes by quarter. The dashed U.S. line is a latest-quarter reference, not a second time series.
- Published quarters
- 8
- Earliest quarter
- 2024 Q2
- Latest quarter
- 2026 Q1
- U.S. benchmark
- -0.9%
Quarters with no published value are omitted rather than interpolated.
Industry context
Where Industrial truck and tractor operators Work
The occupation mix determines which South Dakota industries are weighted into this view.
| Industry group | Occupation mix | Employment change | Establishments | Avg. weekly industry wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trade, transportation, and utilities | 62.0% | -0.2% | 8,546 | $1,068 |
| Manufacturing | 22.8% | -0.2% | 1,050 | $1,356 |
| Professional and business services | 10.9% | -0.5% | 8,444 | $1,671 |
| Construction | 1.2% | Not published | Not published | Not published |
| State and local | 0.4% | Not published | Not published | Not published |
| Mining and logging | 0.3% | Not published | Not published | Not published |
Which industries are growing?
No weighted industry published growth
In January to March 2026, none of the weighted South Dakota industries published a positive year-over-year employment change. Nothing is substituted in its place.
Current South Dakota context
Current South Dakota Market Signals
Statewide indicators for all occupations in South Dakota. They are not Industrial truck and tractor operators demand and are not part of the Job Market Health score.
Statewide job postings
Indeed job postings · South Dakota
Recent hiring-demand context · separate from the health score
Total postings index (seasonally adjusted) by observation date · baseline 100
The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.
View values: Indeed postings index
| Observation date | Index (Feb 2020 = 100) |
|---|---|
| Jul 24, 2026 | 138.45 |
| Jul 31, 2026 | 137.80 |
| Aug 7, 2026 | 138.63 |
| Aug 14, 2026 | 138.76 |
| Aug 21, 2026 | 137.84 |
| Aug 28, 2026 | 141.05 |
| Sep 4, 2026 | 141.42 |
| Sep 11, 2026 | 142.41 |
| Sep 18, 2026 | 142.81 |
| Sep 25, 2026 | 144.37 |
| Oct 2, 2026 | 143.72 |
| Oct 9, 2026 | 144.51 |
| Oct 16, 2026 | 146.55 |
| Oct 23, 2026 | 145.93 |
This is statewide demand across all occupations, not demand for this specific job. Postings are not a count of vacancies or hires, and Indeed does not cover the entire labor market.
Source: Indeed Hiring Lab · CC BY 4.0. Seven-day average, seasonally adjusted; publisher refreshes weekly and may revise history. Retrieved Nov 1, 2026 · saved source copy. JobMarketHealth calculates the displayed changes and samples weekly observations for the chart.
Statewide layoff notices
Statewide layoff-notice filings
South Dakota statewide1 notice in this source
Notice dates from Aug 5, 2026 to Nov 2, 2026 (UTC), a rolling 90-calendar-day period.
What this means: These are statewide totals from notices dated in this period in South Dakota’s official tracking system. Reported positions are the counts published in those notices, not a count of people confirmed to have lost their jobs. No employer is identified.
Notices describe planned workforce changes, not confirmed job losses. Notices may be amended or withdrawn. This statewide context is not occupation-specific and does not affect the Job Market Health score. South Dakota’s state tracking system also records smaller Rapid Response events that fall below federal WARN thresholds, so it is not a list of federal WARN filings only.
South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation About WARN data
Source last checked
Career context
Related occupations
Related roles from the occupation’s published O*NET profile.
Questions answered by this release
Industrial truck and tractor operators in South Dakota FAQs
Each answer is limited to what QCEW 2026 Q1 actually publishes for this state.
Is employment growing for Industrial truck and tractor operators in South Dakota?
The available QCEW measure is not direct occupation employment. Employment across the South Dakota industries weighted to Industrial truck and tractor operators changed -0.2% year over year in January to March 2026, compared with -0.9% nationwide.
Are wages for Industrial truck and tractor operators rising in South Dakota?
QCEW does not publish pay for Industrial truck and tractor operators in this view. Average weekly wages across the weighted industries changed +4.0% year over year; that must not be read as an occupation salary change.
How complete is this South Dakota industry view?
The three core state trends each meet the site’s coverage floor; the minimum published coverage is 97.76% of the occupation’s industry mix.
Does this page show current Industrial truck and tractor operators openings?
No. QCEW measures industry employment, establishments and wages. Any postings, news or WARN figures shown here are statewide context and are not occupation-specific openings.
Methodology & sourcesQCEW 2026 Q1 · coverage 97.76% · full evidence record
Methodology & Sources
Derived by JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix. This is occupation-weighted industry context, not direct occupation employment and not a count of current job openings.
- Occupation
- Industrial truck and tractor operators
- SOC code
- 53-7051
- State
- South Dakota
- QCEW release label
- QCEW 2026 Q1
- Data period
- 2026 Q1
- State industry employment, year over year
- -0.2%State data coverage 97.76%
- U.S. benchmark, year over year
- -0.9%
- Difference from U.S. benchmark
- +0.7 percentage pointsPercentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
- Establishments, year over year
- +0.8%State data coverage 97.76%
- Average weekly industry wage, year over year
- +4.0%State data coverage 97.76%
- Industry mix vintage
- EP-2025-2035
- BLS publication date
- Aug 28, 2026
- Source verification
- Verified against the committed source snapshotVerified Sep 17, 2026
- Canonical record URL
- https://jobmarkethealth.com/occupations/industrial-truck-and-tractor-operators/south-dakota#evidence-record
- Derived by
- JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix
MethodologyBLS QCEWHow to citeQCEW state context release, 2026 Q1
Weighted industry conditions are not direct occupation employment, occupation wages, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. No causal explanation is inferred.