The number of jobs in the trucking climbed in November, although much of the increase comes from downward revision of the October number. And the small increase comes as the U.S. economy continues to post much more significant employment gains, according to the latest jobs report from the U.S. Dept. of Labor.
The November gain of 2,300 jobs puts the trucking total at 1.4555 million, but the new report revised the October jobs total downward by 1,400, making for a loss from September rather the small rise that was originally reported.
The good news is employment remains slightly above the pre-recession high from January 2007, and there were 223,300 (18%) more trucking jobs in November than were reported in March 2010, the low point in the downturn.
Compared to November last year, for-hire trucking has added 26,800 jobs, an increase of 1.9%. (See the interactive chart below.)
Collectively, the transportation and warehousing sector gained 6,400 jobs in November with the largest gain coming in the support activities sectors (6,200 jobs).
This comes as the broader economy added 211,000 jobs for the month, a level robust enough to likely prompt the Federal Reserve, who members meet later this month, to raise interest rates for the first time in almost 10 years, economists suggest. Unemployment remained at 5%, the lowest level since 2008 and the benchmark set by economists for full employment.
Leading the broader gains, construction employment rose by 46,000 in November, with more than half coming from residential specialty trade contractors (+26,000). Job growth in construction has picked up in recent months. Over the year, construction has added 259,000 jobs, the Labor Dept. reported.
Employment in professional and technical services rose by 28,000, while health care employment increased by 24,000. Employment in food services and drinking places (+32,000) and Retail trade (+31,000) also continued to trend up in November
On the losing side, mining employment declined by 11,000 over the month. Since a recent peak in December 2014, mining employment has declined by 123,000, or 14 percent. Three-fourths of the job losses have been in support activities.
