The for-hire trucking industry added 2,600 jobs in February, according to the monthly report from the U.S. Dept. of Labor. This comes as the broader economy added 295,000 jobs and the unemployment rate fell to 5.5%.
At 1.4462 million, the February jobs total is just 7,200 jobs shy of the all-time high for trucking, set in January 2007. Compared to the year before, for-hire trucking has added 50,900 jobs. The industry has recovered 213,000 jobs since the low point in the recession, March 2010.
For-hire trucking has grown by 26,700 jobs in the past six months, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Along with transportation and warehousing (up 18,500 jobs), sectors posting big gains included retail (+32,000), professional and business services (+51,000), construction (+29,000), and health care (+23,000).
The number of jobs in the mining and logging sctor fell by 8,000, largely in support activities. Manufacturing registered a jobs increase, but barely, up just 8,000 in a sector that employed 12.3 million people in February.
