Trucking sector gains jobs in November

November 11, 2017

Tyson Fisher

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Transportation jobs overall scored a 10th consecutive month of job gains in November. The transport sector netted 10,500 jobs to the economy. Trucking jobs went up moderately after two months of minor declines.

So far, the trucking subsector for 2017 has a net gain of 13,200 jobs. The truck transportation subsector experienced an increase of 1,800 jobs in November after the industry lost 100 in each of October and September. November’s increase was only the fourth month of job gains. However, large gains in February and March have put trucking jobs in the black for the year so far.

For the year, the trucking subsector had a net loss of 2,500 jobs in 2016.

In 2016, the transportation and warehousing sector had a net gain of more than 19,000 jobs. Last January, transportation lost more than 20,000 jobs, the largest decrease since January 2011, when 38,000 jobs were eliminated from the economy.

Warehousing and storage experienced the largest increase with 8,100 more jobs, followed by couriers and messengers at 2,200. Transit and ground passenger transportation experienced the largest loss for the second consecutive month, with 2,600 fewer jobs each, trailed by scenic and sightseeing transportation with 1,000 jobs lost. Six of 10 subsectors experienced gains, significantly outweighing subsectors with relatively minimal losses.

Average hourly earnings for the transportation and warehousing sector were $24.13 for November – a 9-cent increase from October and up 65 cents from November 2016. Hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory employees experienced an increase of 6 cents to $21.62 from the previous month and a 64-cent increase year to year. Average hourly earnings for private, nonfarm payrolls across all industries were $26.55, a 5-cent increase from the previous month. Compared with a year ago, average earnings have gone up by 2.5 percent, or 64 cents.

According to the report, the unemployment rate for transportation and material-moving occupations increased slightly to 5.8 percent compared with 5.7 percent last November and went up from 5.2 percent in October. The overall unemployment rate remained stagnant at 4.1 percent. The number of long-term unemployed was essentially unchanged at 1.6 million, accounting for nearly one-quarter of the unemployed.