The number of jobs in the for-hire trucking industry climbed further into record high territory in July, although most of the month-to-month improvement comes from a substantial downward adjustment to the June total, according to the monthly report from the U.S. Dept. of Labor.
The gain of 2,800 jobs put the total at 1.4587 million, but that’s actually only 200 more than was originally reported for the previous month. Still, the July total is 5,300 more jobs than the record for trucking set in January 2007. That’s also the fourth monthly gain in a row after the surprise loss of 7,300 jobs in March, which was the first decline in almost two years.
This comes as the broader economy added 215,000 jobs and the unemployment rate remained at 5.3%, the lowest rate in seven years.
The industry has recovered 225,500 jobs since the low point in the recession, March 2010. Compared to July last year, for-hire trucking has added 40,100jobs, an increase of 2.8%. (See the interactive chart below.)
Collectively, the transportation and warehousing sector added 14,400 jobs in July. Other sectors posting gains included professional and business services (+26,600), health care (+27,900), food services (29,300) and retail (+35,900).
After being flat in June, construction (+6,000) and manufacturing (+15,000) both posted modest job gains, while the number of jobs in mining fell by another 5,000, and is down 78,000 jobs since a recent high in December 2014, according to the report.
