Trucking jobs decrease in December; up more than 10,000 for the year

Transportation jobs overall scored an 11th consecutive month of job gains in December, albeit a small one. The transport sector netted 1,800 jobs to the economy. However, trucking jobs went down moderately after a small increase in November.

For the year, the trucking subsector had a net gain of 10,400 jobs in 2017. The truck transportation subsector experienced a decrease of 600 jobs in December after the industry gained 1,800 in November and lost 100 October. There were only four months of job increases in 2017. However, large gains in February and March put trucking jobs in the black for the year.

In 2017, the transportation and warehousing sector had a net gain of more than 74,000 jobs. In every month except January there was a job increase compared to the previous month. September accounted for the largest one-month increase, with nearly 22,000 jobs in the sector added to the economy.

“Support activities for transportation” experienced the largest increase, with 4,100 more jobs, followed by couriers and messengers at 2,100. Warehousing and storage experienced the largest loss with nearly 5,000 fewer jobs, trailed by trucking’s loss of 600. Six of 10 subsectors experienced gains, outweighing subsectors with relatively minimal losses.

Average hourly earnings for the transportation and warehousing sector were $24.26 for December – a 10-cent increase from November and up 76 cents from December 2016. Hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory employees experienced a decrease of 2 cents to $21.58 from the previous month and a 67-cent increase year to year. Average hourly earnings for private, nonfarm payrolls across all industries were $26.63, a 9-cent increase from the previous month. Compared with a year ago, average earnings have gone up by 2.5 percent, or 65 cents.

According to the report, the unemployment rate for transportation and material-moving occupations decreased significantly to 5.1 percent, compared with 6.1 percent in December 2016, and went down from 5.8 percent in November. The overall unemployment rate remained stagnant at 4.1 percent for the third consecutive month. The number of long-term unemployed dropped slightly to 1.5 million, accounting for 23 percent of the unemployed.