Trucking Industry Payrolls Dip by 100 in May
For-hire trucking lost 100 jobs in May, while the unemployment rate declined to a 16-year low, the Labor Department reported June 2.
The unemployment rate fell to 4.3% and payrolls increased by 138,000, Bloomberg News reported.
The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for an 182,000 advance.
Transportation and warehousing, which includes trucking, added 3,600 positions. The transit and ground passenger transportation sector added 4,500 positions, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.
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Cooler hiring may partly reflect the challenge of finding skilled and experienced workers amid a tightening job market. It may also be a sign businesses are reluctant to expand their workforce until they see more evidence the new administration’s plans are translating into legislation that’ll reduce taxes and spur growth. Even so, with the revisions, the three-month average of payroll gains was the weakest since 2012, Bloomberg reported.
Support activities for transportation lost 2,500 jobs, and the couriers and messengers sector lost 800 position, according to BLS.
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“Job growth is a little disappointing, but enough to continue tightening the labor market,” said Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York. “This doesn’t change the overall story of an economy that generally seems to be growing above trend and reducing slack.”
Construction added 11,000 jobs in May, and manufacturing jobs declined by 1,000, according to the report.
Even with the figures, economic growth is likely to rebound this quarter and the U.S. is near full employment, helping explain why Federal Reserve policy makers are expected to raise interest rates when they meet June 13-14. Sustained hiring amid a shortage of skilled workers should eventually lead to an acceleration in wages, according to Bloomberg.
