Trucking jobs rose in December; up nearly 63,000 for the year

Trucking jobs went up slightly in December, with transportation employment as a whole experiencing a monthly increase.

According to the latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 2,000 trucking jobs were added to the economy in December.

Revised numbers show an increase of 600 trucking jobs in November and an increase of more than 6,000 jobs in October.

Year to date, trucking jobs are up by nearly 63,000 jobs.

Accounting for all transportation sector jobs, employment is up nearly 5,000 jobs, breaking a four-month streak of decreases. In August, transportation employment fell by more than 1,000 jobs, marking the first monthly decrease since the pandemic eliminated nearly 500,000 jobs in April 2020, breaking a more than two-year growth streak.

Transit/ground passenger transportation experienced the largest monthly increase, with 4,700 more jobs, followed by air transport (3,200 jobs) and trucking. Couriers/messengers experienced the largest monthly decline (minus 4,400), followed by warehousing/storage (minus 3,000).

Based on revised numbers, employment in the transportation sector fell by 21,700 in November and 7,500 in October.

For the year, transportation employment has increased by more than 207,000 jobs.

Wages started to decrease in December. Average hourly and weekly earnings of all employees in the transportation and warehousing sector decreased by 5 cents to $28.37. Accounting for only production and nonsupervisory employees, average weekly earnings decreased from $1,006.93 to $1,001.31.

Across all industries, more than 220,000 jobs were added to the economy. The unemployment rate dropped slightly to 3.5%.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the consumer price index has jumped by 7.1% over the past 12 months. The 0.1% monthly increase in November was broad-based, with the indexes for shelter, gasoline, and food being the largest contributors. The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.2%, up 6% over the year. LL