Trucking industry gains 1,000 jobs in September

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9:13 EmploymentAfter a month of stagnation in employment (August), the for-hire trucking industry saw a small uptick in September, adding 1,000 new payroll jobs in the month on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly unemployment report, which was delayed nearly two weeks due to the government shutdown. 

The U.S. economy in September added 148,000 total nonfarm jobs. That number is about 30,000 fewer than economists predicted, but the unemployment rate continued to fall, dropping to 7.2 percent. 

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In September, the trucking industry had 1.3841 million payroll jobs — 28,000 (2 percent) more than in September 2012. 

Trucking employment is up 150,100 jobs, 12.1 percent since the bottom in March 2010, but it remains 63,900 jobs below January 2007’s peak. 

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 reflect the number of employees paid during a specified payroll period during the month. Due to high turnover rates, the BLS estimates may overstate the number of job positions due to the methodology used in the agency’s Current Employment Survey.

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