For-hire trucking’s employment rally continues, still down 50k jobs from February
The for-hire trucking industry added a seasonally adjusted 12,700 jobs in November, as the industry continues to try to make up for ground lost in March and April, when total employment among for-hire fleets fell off a cliff. According to the Department of Labor’s monthly Employment Situation Summary, total employment in the for-hire trucking industry was 1,474,400 in November — still 52,900 jobs shy of February’s recent peak. It’s also 55,400 jobs shy of the same month last year.
However, November’s hiring numbers were the strongest for trucking since the freight recovery began in June, helping close the gap of the nearly 97,000 jobs lost in March and April. It’s largely presumed those were drivers that were either laid off or left the industry when freight demand crumbled in the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since May, for-hire fleets have added back 43,800 jobs.
