Big jump in truck transportation jobs in latest BLS report

The latest Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report has revealed a significant increase in employment within the truck transportation sector. Truck transportation employment rose by 4,800 jobs, reaching a total of 1,470,300 jobs, which is the highest level in the sector since October. However, it remains about 10,000 jobs below the level from a year ago.

David Spencer, vice president of market intelligence at Arrive Logistics, cautioned that a single month's trend does not indicate a shift in conditions. Despite the recent stability in truckload spot rate volatility, he noted that two months of declines have mostly offset the April surge.

The long-distance truckload driver subsector showed strength, with employment increasing to 501,400 jobs in July, up almost 5,000 jobs since January. However, this figure is still down from a year earlier and a recent peak of 553,600 jobs in October 2022. LTL driver growth has been slower, up just 100 jobs between June and July, and still 2,000 jobs below a year ago.

Warehouse jobs experienced their second consecutive decline, dropping to 1,837,400 jobs, which is 32,000 jobs less than a year ago. The contrast with the all-time peak of 1,939,300 jobs in March 2022 is noteworthy.

Despite a decline in the initial July payrolls report, Independent economist Aaron Terrazas believes the drop was driven by local government/education and has since been reversed. The unemployment rate remained stable, and participation increased. Superior Trucking Payroll Service reported a slight decrease in its drive pay index to 158.08 in August, still well above the year-ago figure of 148.88. Turnover in the industry stood at 9.37% in August, down from double-digit numbers between September and March.