Trucking Adds 5,600 Jobs as Payrolls Rise; Unemployment Rate Drops to 7.7%
The trucking industry added 5,600 jobs in February as U.S. payrolls jumped by 236,000 and the unemployment rate fell to 7.7%, the Labor Department reported Friday.
January’s trucking-jobs gain was revised up to 6,500 jobs from a previously reported 5,000, according to the figures from the department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The jobs gain across all sectors was well above analysts’ forecasts of 165,000, Bloomberg News reported. January’s employment increase was revised down to 119,000 jobs from an originally reported 157,000.
The unemployment rate was forecast to hold at 7.9%, Bloomberg reported.
Construction jobs jumped by 48,000, the most in almost six years, and factories added 14,000 workers.
Total transportation employment, which includes trucking, fell by 1,300 in February, led by a decline of 3,400 in transit and ground passenger transportation.
January’s transportation sector employment was revised to a loss of 20,400 jobs, from an originally reported 14,200 downturn.
Private-sector payrolls led the overall jobs increase with a 246,000 jump. That followed a revised increase of 140,000 in January that was slightly higher than originally reported.
The unemployment rate and jobs figures are obtained by separate surveys. Payrolls are derived from a survey of employers and the unemployment rate is from a survey of households.
