Trucking Industry Loses 1,400 Jobs in January, Labor Department Reports
For-hire trucking lost 1,400 jobs in January, while overall payrolls increased by 227,000, the Labor Department reported Feb. 3.
Transportation and warehousing, which includes trucking, lost 4,000 positions. The warehousing and storage sector gained 9,400 positions, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.
The increase in January payrolls followed a 157,000 rise in December. The median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of economists called for a 180,000 advance. The jobless rate rose to 4.8%, and average hourly earnings grew 2.5% from January 2016, the weakest since August, Bloomberg News reported.
Support activities for transportation lost 5,600 jobs, and the couriers and messengers sector lost 7,400 position, according to BLS.
“There’s more slack in the labor market than the unemployment rate implies, but we’re continuing to make progress in absorbing that slack,” Russell Price, senior economist at Ameriprise Financial Inc. in Detroit, told Bloomberg. “As that happens, wage and salary growth should gain additional traction.”
The January results were helped by hiring in construction, retail, finance and professional services. The 36,000 increase in construction payrolls was the largest since March, Bloomberg reported.
