The trucking industry has experienced a more significant loss of truck drivers over the past two years than initially believed, resulting in the number of trucking jobs returning to levels seen just before the pandemic struck nearly five years ago.
Each January, the Bureau of Labor Statistics updates employment data from the previous five years. The revised figures reveal that nearly 70,000 trucking positions were eliminated from the economy in 2023 and 2024, a sharp increase from the previously reported loss of 41,000 jobs.
In 2021 and 2022, a surge of truck drivers entered the field to capitalize on high rates following the pandemic. However, after reaching a peak in July 2022, the industry has been reducing its workforce by eliminating excess drivers.
Currently, there are 70,000 fewer truck drivers compared to the peak, with 16,500 jobs lost last year and 53,000 in 2023. A recent report indicated that there were only 42,000 fewer trucking jobs compared to July 2022, showing a loss of 6,000 jobs last year and 35,000 this year. Initially, it was reported that trucking jobs had increased in six months last year, but the corrected data indicates there were only three increases, two of which were at the year’s end.
Trucking Job Growth Resumes
The year began with growth in trucking jobs, adding nearly 4,000 positions in January. This marks an increase of 5,000 jobs compared to February 2020 and over 7,000 jobs since last October, thanks to a streak of three months of growth.
David Spencer, vice president of market intelligence at Arrive Logistics, noted that the end of 2024 was marked by volatility due to factors such as port strikes, tariff threats, and severe winter weather coinciding with peak retail season, which may have contributed to more trucking jobs than usual in the fourth quarter. He mentioned that truckers could benefit from historical seasonal changes in freight demand in 2025, emphasizing the importance of typical demand surges.
The overall transportation sector saw a slight job increase of 1,000 in January, primarily led by gains in transit and ground passenger transport (4,100 jobs), trucking (3,800 jobs), transportation support activities (1,300 jobs), and air transport (1,100 jobs). However, losses in warehousing/storage (4,600), couriers/messengers (3,200), and pipeline transport (1,700) offset many of these gains.
Transport Job Recovery and Wage Trends
The report indicated that jobs in the transportation sector decreased by 25,000 compared to the July 2022 peak, but revised data shows that the sector recovered all these jobs and more by May, finishing the year with nearly 66,000 jobs above July 2022 figures.
Despite a month-to-month decline in January wages, with average weekly earnings for all employees in the transportation and warehousing sector dropping nearly $5 to $1,176.71, hourly earnings increased from $30.37 to $31.13 compared to January 2024. For production and nonsupervisory employees, average weekly earnings also fell, declining from $1,111.70 to $1,104.80, while hourly earnings rose by 70 cents compared to January 2024, reaching $29.54.
Overall, the nation added 143,000 jobs across all industries, falling short of economists’ projections of 170,000, as stated by financial data firm FactSet. Additionally, data corrections revealed that job growth last year was slower than anticipated, with 236,000 fewer jobs added than previously reported.
The unemployment rate dipped by 0.1 percentage points to 4.0%. In the transportation sector, the unemployment rate significantly decreased by 1.1 percentage points to 3.6% compared to the previous year. Although this rate remains above the pre-pandemic level of 2.8% from December 2019, it is considerably lower than the peak of 15.7% observed in May and July 2020.
