The Bureau of Labor Statistics has released a February employment report indicating good news for job seekers in the trucking industry.

From January to February, the truck transportation sector, which includes general and specialized freight trucking, added 300 jobs to total 1,342,300 jobs.

Although the industry is still a ways off from its 1.4-million employment peak reached in January 2000, this increase continues a rebounding trend that has added 13,600 jobs since September 2003. That is a 1% gain.

However, goods-producing jobs— which include construction and manufacturing— continue to drop from January to February. Manufacturing jobs decreased from 14,311,000 to 14,308,000— a loss of 3,000 jobs (0.02%) during the one-month period. This small dip does indicate job losses are leveling off. The nation’s unemployment rate, in comparison, is holding steady at 5.6%.

Construction jobs have taken a bigger hit, dropping from 6,808,000 to 6,784,000— shedding 24,000 jobs or 0.35% during the one-month period. This drop breaks a hot streak that had netted a 1.4% jump since February 2003.

Based on the February estimates manufacturing jobs account for 11% of all nonfarm employment while construction takes a 5.2% piece of the pie. The freight industry alone accounts for 1% of nonfarm jobs.