Decline in Truck Transportation Jobs in February Were the Third Largest in a Decade

FreightWaves is reporting (3-10-23) that according to the recently released Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, the truck transportation sector in February experienced major job losses, shedding 8,500 positions. Except for the massive drop in April 2020 amid the start of the pandemic, when 84,500 jobs were lost, the only similar decline in truck sector jobs was ten years ago when 9,000 jobs were lost in March 2013.

Prior to the February BLS report, there had only been three months since the start of the pandemic in which truck transportation jobs declined, with the largest one-month drop coming in March 2022, when 3,100 trucking jobs were lost. Other than those three months, FreightWaves notes it has all been gains.

David Spencer, VP of Market Intelligence at Arrive Logistics, told FreightWaves that the drop in jobs is coming alongside signals that trucking companies are getting from the market. Spencer said the job decline “is driven by the results of carriers seeing in this year’s current RFP season. With shippers lowering volume expectations, carriers will be providing smaller commitments, which mean the same way the spot rates are staring to bottom out and we’re going to see jobs continue to decrease over the next few months.”

Freightwaves highlighted that warehouse jobs also declined in the February BLS report. On a seasonally adjusted annual basis, the warehouse sector had 1,929,400 jobs in February, down from 1,934,900 positions in January. Rail sector jobs also declined by 200 in February (148,900) but remained above the 145,800 rail positions recorded a year ago.