Payroll employment among for-hire trucking companies in July dropped 0.5 percent from June levels and 9.2 percent from July 2008 on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to preliminary figures released by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. The latest numbers also reflect a slight upward revision in trucking employment levels for June and a smaller upward revision for May.
With the estimated 6,800 jobs lost in July, the trucking industry has 77,700 jobs since the end of 2008 – a decline of 5.8 percent. Job cuts since July 2008 – just before the current decline – total 128,100. The BLS numbers reflect all payroll employment in for-hire trucking, but they don’t include trucking-related jobs in other industries, such as a truck driver for a private fleet.
Seasonally adjusted trucking employment peaked in January 2007 at more than 1.45 million, according to BLS figures. Since then, for-hire trucking companies have shed 191,500 jobs, or 13.2 percent.
In July, the decline in trucking employment outpaced that in the entire U.S. economy. Non-farm payroll employment fell by 247,000 jobs or 0.2 percent from May to June on a seasonally adjusted basic. Compared to June 2008, non-farm payroll employment is down 4.2 percent.
