Trucking Adds 2,600 Jobs; Unemployment Rate Falls to 5.5%
Trucking added 2,600 jobs in February as the U.S. unemployment rate fell to 5.5%, the Labor Department reported.
The trucking increase followed a 2,500 gain that was slightly higher than originally reported, Labor said March 6.
U.S. employers added 295,000 jobs in the month, after a 239,000 increase that was smaller than originally reported.
The February additions topped economists’ forecasts of a 235,000 increase, Bloomberg News reported.
The unemployment rate, which was 5.7% in January, was forecast to decline to 5.6%, Bloomberg reported.
Labor’s monthly unemployment rate is derived from a separate survey of households than its payrolls survey.
Employment in the transportation and warehousing sector, which includes trucking, jumped 18,500 after a 1,000 gain in January, which had originally been reported as an 8,600 decline.
Construction-sector employment jumped by 29,000 jobs, while manufacturers added 8,000 workers last month, Labor said.
