Trucking Adds 1,100 Jobs in November, Department of Labor Reports
For-hire trucking gained 1,100 jobs in November, while overall payrolls increased by 178,000, the Labor Department reported Dec. 2.
Transportation and warehousing — which includes trucking — gained 8,900 positions, and the couriers and messengers sector gained 5,700 positions, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.
The rise in payrolls follows a 142,000 gain in October that was less than previously estimated. The total jobless rate declined 0.3% to 4.6%, Bloomberg News reported.
A steady job market signals employers were willing to keep hiring in the days before and after the Nov. 8 presidential election, according to Bloomberg.
“The labor market is still healthy, and perhaps operating at or beyond capacity,” Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York told Bloomberg. “Wages can be volatile month to month. I’d tend to put a little more weight on the unemployment rate when thinking about future developments and wage inflation.”
The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey called for a 180,000 rise in payrolls.
Warehousing and storage position increased by 3,100 and but air transportation jobs declined by 1,000, according to BLS.
The underemployment rate — which includes part-time workers who’d prefer a full-time position and people who want to work but have given up looking — fell 0.2 percentage point to 9.3%. While that’s the lowest since April 2008, it compares with 8.4% in November 2007, the month before the last recession began, Bloomberg reported.
Payrolls at factories fell by 4,000, after a 5,000 decline in the previous month. Retailers reduced payrolls by 8,300. Employment in leisure and hospitality rose by 29,000.
Unemployment rate declines to 4.6% in November; payroll employment increases by 178,000 https://t.co/1Y9cSWJUIB #JobsReport #BLSdata — BLS-Labor Statistics (@BLS_gov) December 2, 2016
