Turns out, trucking didn’t lose 3,000 jobs in September, according to the revised U.S. Dept. of Labor report issued Friday. Indeed, trucking gained jobs and the trend continued into October, marking four straight months of improvement after the industry lost jobs in the first half of the year.
So even with the adjusted increase for September (1,800 new jobs), trucking was up another 3,000 jobs last month, according to the latest government figures. And while the new total is 7,900 more jobs than in October 2015, trucking has lost 1,700 jobs since the all-time high posted in January.
This comes as the overall U.S. economy added 161,000 jobs in October, slightly less than expected by economists but enough to suggest continued momentum positive. The national unemployment rate, slipped to 4.9%.
The October loss puts the for-hire trucking total at 1.4639 million, that’s 230,700 (18.7%) more trucking jobs than were reported in March 2010, the low point in the economic downturn.
Collectively the transportation and warehousing gained 7,500 jobs for the month, with warehousing and storage (+3,300) and air transportation (+2,500) also posting gains.
In the broader economy, employment continued to trend up in health care (+31,000), professional and business services (+43,000), and financial activities (+14,000).
Employment in other major industries, including mining, construction, manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, information, leisure and hospitality, and government, changed little over the month, according to the report.
