As September saw the nation’s job growth slow for a second consecutive month, with 263,000 U.S. jobs added by employers and an unemployment rate of 3.5 percent, the trucking industry took a big hit with the loss of 11,400 jobs month-over-month.
Fox Business reported on Oct. 7 at https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/trucking-jobs-evaporate-as-shortage-worsens that the overall numbers represent “the second month in a row of job growth slowing” and said the trucking job figures were according to payroll data released by the U.S. Department of Labor.
“The truck transportation sector had approximately 1,580,800 employees in September, compared to 1,592,200 the prior month, according to seasonally adjusted data from the Labor Department. There was a loss of 11,400 jobs in the sector month-over-month,” the story said. It also said the decrease is the largest since April 2009, quoting Bob Costello, chief economist for the American Trucking Associations.
Costello is quoted as saying, “It suggests that small fleets are folding and/or fleets are right sizing, but it should ease overcapacity fears, which I don’t subscribe to.”
And, the story added, the Labor Department reported that “transportation and warehousing employment was ‘little changed’ in September, shedding approximately 7,900 jobs,” although it did note that the loss of trucking jobs was “partially offset by air transportation adding 3,000…”
Still, Fox Business said, “The loss of jobs in truck transportation in September comes amid an ongoing trucker shortage that began well before the pandemic. In early September, American Trucking Associations President and CEO Chris Spear noted in a letter that there was an ‘existing shortage’ of 80,000 drivers.”
