Trucking Adds 2,800 Jobs in July as Unemployment Holds at 7-Year Low
The trucking industry added 2,800 jobs in July as the unemployment rate held at a seven-year low of 5.3%, the Labor Department reported Aug. 7.
The transportation and warehousing sector, which includes trucking, added 14,400 positions.
The 215,000 overall increase in employment followed a 223,000 rise the prior month that was bigger than previously estimated, Bloomberg News reported.
The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey called for a 225,000 increase.
The report showed a pickup in hours worked, average hourly earnings climbed a less-than-forecast 2.1% from a year earlier, indicating little momentum in wage growth, Bloomberg reported.
Factories increased payrolls by 15,000, the most since January. The gains were led by more hiring in the nondurables industries, including food, plastics and paper.
“Trend job growth is rock solid,” said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody’s Analytics Inc. told Bloomberg. “It’s more than sufficient to continue to chip away at the slack that’s left in the job market.”
The labor force participation rate, which indicates the share of working-age people who are employed or looking for work, held at 62.6%.
