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The differences between shop foremen and supervisors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a shop foreman and a supervisor. Additionally, a shop foreman has an average salary of $68,171, which is higher than the $53,902 average annual salary of a supervisor.
The top three skills for a shop foreman include customer service, preventative maintenance and CDL. The most important skills for a supervisor are customer service, safety procedures, and sales floor.
| Shop Foreman | Supervisor | |
| Yearly salary | $68,171 | $53,902 |
| Hourly rate | $32.77 | $25.91 |
| Growth rate | 5% | - |
| Number of jobs | 16,599 | 224,920 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 37% | Bachelor's Degree, 44% |
| Average age | 46 | 46 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
A shop foreman is responsible for monitoring the daily operations of a shop, ensuring that the staff members perform their duties to address customers' needs. A shop foreman manages staffing schedules, trains new employees, and distributes tasks. They often work in manufacturing, automotive, and warehouse industries, which require knowledge of operating equipment. A shop foreman must have excellent leadership and communication skills, especially on addressing customers' inquiries and complaints and performing clerical tasks as needed.
Supervisors are responsible for overseeing the daily functions of employees in a specific team, department, or even a work shift. They create work schedules, organize work processes and workflows, train new hires, provide necessary reports related to the team function and the employees, monitor and evaluate employee performance, and ensure that goals of the specific team or department are met. When needed, supervisors also provide guidance to employees in terms of their career or even personal challenges. They also help in fostering harmonious work relationships by resolving interpersonal conflicts at work. To be successful in their role, they must have leadership skills, time management skills, decision-making capabilities, analytical skills, and problem-solving skills.
Shop foremen and supervisors have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Shop Foreman | Supervisor | |
| Average salary | $68,171 | $53,902 |
| Salary range | Between $47,000 And $97,000 | Between $31,000 And $92,000 |
| Highest paying City | Gillette, WY | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | Wyoming | Alaska |
| Best paying company | Freightliner Trucks | Reed Smith |
| Best paying industry | Energy | Health Care |
There are a few differences between a shop foreman and a supervisor in terms of educational background:
| Shop Foreman | Supervisor | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 37% | Bachelor's Degree, 44% |
| Most common major | Automotive Technology | Business |
| Most common college | SUNY Farmingdale | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between shop foremen' and supervisors' demographics:
| Shop Foreman | Supervisor | |
| Average age | 46 | 46 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 97.0% Female, 3.0% | Male, 55.8% Female, 44.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 12.5% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 16.7% Asian, 5.3% White, 60.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | Black or African American, 12.2% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 19.0% Asian, 4.6% White, 59.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |