The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday reported seasonally adjusted jobs in the trucking sector totaled 1,475,700 in February, a decline from a month earlier.
That is a decline of 4,000 jobs from the revised January figure of 1,479,700. But the January revision was significant as that month’s trucking jobs had been originally reported at 1,475,400. The end result is that jobs in trucking in February were mostly flat to where the industry thought they were in January, but the January number turned out to be higher than first reported.
The number of jobs in trucking between January and February had risen in nine of the prior 10 years. The one year when there was a decline was a minimal drop.
The not seasonally adjusted figures for trucking also showed a decline. They dropped to 1,451,200 jobs from 1,455,500 jobs in January.
In both categories, seasonally adjusted and not seasonally adjusted, employment in the trucking sector remains well below February of last year. For seasonally adjusted figures, there were 1,524,800 jobs in trucking in February of last year. In the not seasonally adjusted category, it was 1,496,800.
Warehousing and storage, in which gains in jobs have been on a tear for months, also saw a downturn. Seasonally adjusted figures declined to 1,416,200 jobs, a drop of 1,100 jobs in the last months. But the number is still well above last year, when it stood at 1,327,700 jobs.
Rail jobs continued their slide. Seasonally adjusted jobs in the rail sector were 141,800 jobs, down from 142,500 jobs a month earlier. A year ago, that number was 159,400 jobs.
The couriers and messengers category continued to rise. On a seasonally adjusted basis, jobs there rose to 1,030,300, a 9,000-job gain from 1,021,300 positions. A year ago, it wasn’t even at the million-job mark, coming in at 882,800.
FreightWaves will continue to report on this story through the day.
More articles by John Kingston
Employment report strong but not record breaking increase in trucking jobs
Employment follow-up: two month gains in trucking sector impressive even if rate slowed in September
Truck transportation jobs grow but still below year-ago levels