Trucking Industry Gained 3,800 Jobs in September

Trucking employment in the for-hire trucking industry saw a healthy jump in September, gaining 3,800 jobs from the month prior, according to the Department of Labor’s monthly employment report.

Trucking’s gains were in line with the economy as a whole, which added 248,000 non-farm jobs in the month and the country’s unemployment rate fell to 5.9 percent - the lowest since July 2008.

August’s numbers were also upwardly revised to show growth in the month, rather than the decline that was reported in the preliminary report last month.

Total employment in the for-hire trucking industry hit 1.4138 million payroll jobs in the month, according to the Labor Department report. That’s a 2.3 percent (32,000) increase from September 2013 and a 14.6 percent (179,800 jobs) increase from the bottom in March 2010.

It’s still 2.7 percent (39,600 jobs) below the peak in January 2007.

The Labor Department numbers reflect payroll employment for the month in for-hire trucking and don’t reflect trucking jobs in other industries, like private fleets. The numbers also may not reflect the total amount of hiring, since they only reflect the number of employees paid in the month.

The transportation and warehousing sector, which includes trucking, added 1,900 positions in September, as the transit and ground passenger transportation segment lost 9,300 jobs.

“We appear to be ending the third quarter on a solid note,” Sam Bullard, senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities told Bloomberg. “This will continue the trend of gradual improvement we’ve been seeing so far since 2014. There’s greater traction in the U.S. economy right now.”

Transportation sector gains 1,900 jobs in September
The transportation sector gained 1,900 jobs in September as the national unemployment rate remained fell to its lowest level since 2008, according to statistics released by the Department of Labor on Friday.

The Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said there were 4,644,600 jobs in transportation in September, compared to 4,642,700 in August.

The jump was part of 248,000 increase in overall jobs in September that resulted in the U.S. unemployment rate being reduced to 5.9 percent, the labor department said.

The transportation sector with the highest employment increase was couriers and messengers, which gained 4,800 jobs in September. The sector had 577,600 jobs in September, up from 572,800 in August.

The biggest drop in employment in the transportation sector took place in the public transit and ground passenger transportation industries, which lost 9,300 jobs last month. The category had 455,700 jobs in September, down from 465,000 in August.

The airline industry lost 300 jobs in September, going from 465,400 in August to 465,100 last month.

As previously mentioned, the trucking industry gained 3,800 jobs in September, going from 1,410,000 in August to 1,413,800 last month.

Long-distance and freight rail gained 1,300 jobs last month, going from 238,500 in August to 239,800 in August.

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