What the role really costs to employ, what the market is paying, and which licences actually gate it. Written for the employer doing the hiring.
This page is about taking a forklift driver onto your payroll, not about booking one for a job. A forklift driver on the award floor of $27.97 an hour costs about $63,894.83 a year once superannuation, leave loading and workers compensation are counted, against a wage of $55,268.72. That is roughly 15.6 per cent on top.
Award floor
$27.97
Storage Services and Wholesale Award (MA000084), effective 1 July 2026
Market band
$65,000 to $80,000
National advertised range, SEEK, refreshed 1 July 2026
Real annual cost
$63,894.83
At the award floor, full time, South Australian on-costs
The wage is the smallest honest answer. Worked at the award floor, full time, 38 hours a week:
| Line | How it is worked out | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Wages | $27.97 x 38 hours x 52 weeks | $55,268.72 |
| Annual leave loading | 17.5% of four weeks' wages | $744.00 |
| Superannuation | 12% of wages plus loading | $6,721.53 |
| Workers compensation | 1.85% of wages, loading and super | $1,160.58 |
| Real annual cost | Against a $55,268.72 wage | $63,894.83 |
Award floor from the Fair Work P.A.C.T summary for the Storage Services and Wholesale Award (MA000084), effective 1 July 2026. Superannuation 12 per cent for 2026-27, ATO. Leave loading 17.5 per cent of four weeks, Fair Work Ombudsman. Workers compensation 1.85 per cent, ReturnToWorkSA scheme average, which varies by state and industry so use your own insurer's rate. Payroll tax is excluded because most employers sit below the threshold. Checked 5 August 2026. Full method on what an employee really costs.
That is the floor, not the offer. The market band above is what the role is actually advertised at, and an offer pitched near the legal minimum is the one experienced people scroll past. The full rate detail for this role has the classification ladder.
A high risk work licence issued by the work health and safety regulator in each state and territory. The forklift class is LF. An LO licence covering order picking forklifts is a separate class, and this is the detail that causes the most confusion in hiring: someone licensed for one is not licensed for the other. Licences are portable between states through mutual recognition but they do carry expiry dates.
Grade 2 is the rung that covers licensed operation of materials handling equipment, so it is where a forklift driver usually sits. Note the service steps exist only within grade 1: grades 2 to 4 are single rates with no time-served increments. The published ladder stops at grade 4.
| Classification | Hourly floor | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Storeworker grade 1, on commencement | $27.08 | Base rate |
| Storeworker grade 1, after 3 months | $27.41 | Base rate |
| Storeworker grade 1, after 12 months | $27.72 | Base rate |
| Storeworker grade 2 | $27.97 | Base rate |
| Storeworker grade 3 | $28.77 | Base rate |
| Storeworker grade 4 | $29.61 | Base rate |
Storage Services and Wholesale Award (MA000084), adult full-time minimums effective 1 July 2026, from the Fair Work Ombudsman pay guides. Casual loading of 25 per cent sits on top. Which classification applies is decided by the work actually performed, not by the job title.
Widening or narrowing the brief by one role often does more for a stalled vacancy than raising the rate. The nearest neighbours:
The licence takes days rather than years, so supply responds to demand far faster than in the trades. That is the honest reason this role is not on the shortage list while every trade on this site is.
On the Jobs and Skills Australia 2025 Occupation Shortage List this role appears as 721311 Forklift Driver, not in shortage nationally or in any state, on the 2025 list. That is the national picture, not a claim about your town, and it is the reason an advertisement alone often does not produce a shortlist.
Asking for forklift experience when the actual requirement is a specific licence class. LF and LO are different licences and an advertisement that says forklift attracts both. The second is not saying what the equipment is: a counterbalance in a yard and a high reach in narrow aisle racking are different jobs for different people. The third is treating the licence as the whole qualification, when in most warehouses the scanning system and the pick rates are what actually determine whether someone lasts.
Four checks before a name reaches you: licences verified, screened against your brief, history checked, rate locked. If one step fails, the name never reaches you. The whole process is written out here, including where reference checks actually sit.
You pay nothing until your hire starts, and if they leave inside the first 90 days we replace them free.
At the award floor of $27.97 an hour, about $63,894.83 a year once superannuation, leave loading and workers compensation are added, against a wage of $55,268.72. That is roughly 15.6 per cent on top of the wage. Payroll tax is excluded because most employers sit below the threshold.
The national advertised band is $65,000 to $80,000. The award floor of $27.97 is the legal minimum, not the market. An offer pitched near the floor is the most common reason a vacancy in this trade stays open.
LF is the standard forklift class and LO covers order picking forklifts. They are separate high risk work licences and holding one does not authorise the other.
High risk work licences are recognised across jurisdictions through mutual recognition, but they expire and need renewal.
Because the licence takes days to obtain rather than the years a trade apprenticeship takes, so supply can respond to demand quickly.