Trucking adds 3,100 jobs in October

Updated Nov 9, 2011

The trucking industry hired 3,100 new payroll employees in October, according to preliminary numbers released Nov. 4, by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Compared to October 2010, seasonally adjusted trucking employment is up by 36,600, or 2.9 percent. Payroll employment is up by 31,500 jobs so far this year. The number of trucking jobs β€” 1.286 million β€” remains nearly 169,000 jobs below peak employment in January 2007.

The BLS numbers for trucking reflect all payroll employment in for-hire trucking, but they don’t include trucking-related jobs in other industries, such as a truck driver for a private fleet. Nor do the numbers reflect the total amount of hiring since they only include new jobs, not replacements for existing positions.

The entire U.S. economy added 80,000 jobs in October, according to preliminary BLS estimates. In addition, BLS revised its initial estimates to show that the economy added 158,000 jobs in September. The unemployment rate dipped to 9 percent.