Substantial revisions to previously reported federal government data show that job creation in the trucking industry hasn’t been nearly what it was cracked up to be in the third quarter.
In fact, following the adjustments in the latest monthly jobs report from the U.S. Dept. of Labor, September marked the second consecutive hiring decline, and the total has slipped back to May levels and 3,000 jobs below the record high set in June.
The September loss of 4,000 jobs from August (and that's after the August number was reduced by 2,400) put the total at 1.4524 million. Still, employment is near the pre-recession high from January 2007, and there were 219,200 more trucking jobs in September than were reported in March 2010, the low point in the downturn.
Compared to September last year, for-hire trucking has added 29,300 jobs, an increase of 2.1%. (See the interactive chart below.)
Collectively, the transportation and warehousing sector added 3,500 jobs in September, with growth reported in the courier and warehouse sectors.
This comes as the broader economy added 142,000 jobs, below economists’ forecasted gains in the 200,000-jobs range. The unemployment rate held at 5.1%, the lowest rate since April 2008.
Healthcare (38,000 new jobs), professional and business services (31,000), retail (24,000) and food services (21,000) all posted gains, while employment in mining continued to decline in September (-10,000).
Other major industries, including construction, manufacturing, wholesale trade, financial activities, and government, showed little or no change over the month, the Labor Department reported.
