Trucking dropped 3,600 jobs in September, Labor Dept. says

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image-51The for-hire trucking industry’s total employment fell by 3,600 jobs in September, according to the Labor Department’s monthly U.S. employment report. The loss nearly wipes out an upwardly revised gain of 4,000 jobs in August.

Following several years with steady employment growth in the industry, 2016’s seen mostly a downward trend, highlighted by five straight months of job losses between March and June. July and August both saw trucking employment gains, however. Trucking’s trend has bucked that of the U.S. economy’s employment, which has increased every month this year. The economy as a whole added 156,000 jobs in September, but the country’s unemployment rate ticked up a tenth of a percentage to 5 percent.

Trucking industry employment totaled 1.4567 million in September, the DOL reports. That number doesn’t take into account private fleet employment.

The transportation and warehousing sector as a whole lost 9,000 jobs in September. Manufacturing lost 13,000 jobs, while the construction industry added 23,000 jobs. The retail trade sector added 22,000 jobs.