Despite weak freight market, trucking jobs soared in March

Truck transportation jobs in March rose the most in a month since the beginning of 2022.

The increase of 9,600 jobs that went along with a larger-than-normal increase in nonfarm payrolls for the country (up 228,000 jobs) was the largest since an increase of 10,400 jobs in January 2022. That month was nearing the end of what is generally considered the strongest freight market in recent history. This month’s increase came during a time when the most optimistic voices are hoping for an improvement by the end of the year.

The monthly numbers released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics also reported a revision of January and February numbers that resulted in the February figure actually being down 2,800 jobs between January and February, larger than the original estimate.

The end result is that at 1,525,900 jobs, employment in truck transportation is less than it was a year ago (when it was 1,531000 jobs), but the highest since April 2024.

The record employment in the sector was 1,587,900 jobs in July 2022, which would have been after the peak activity in the post-pandemic freight boom.

Meanwhile, warehousing and storage jobs went in the opposite direction, falling to 1,822,400 jobs, down from 1,831,800 jobs, a drop of 9,400 jobs. There also were downward revisions for January and February, which means that what a month ago was a report of 1,840,500 warehouse jobs in January now is a total more than 18,000 jobs below that. 

The transportation sector as a whole posted job gains of 22,900 jobs, accounting for more than 10% of the 228,000 increase in jobs reported in nonfarm payrolls. Much of that came from yet another huge increase in the couriers category, which was up 15,800 jobs. Revisions in January and February numbers mean that between those two months, 24,300 jobs were added in the couriers sector.

Resolution of certain labor disputes is believed to be a big reason for the gain in the courier numbers.

Aaron Terrazas, an economist who studies labor markets with a particular emphasis on transportation, said the overall increase in transportation numbers was about double what it normally is. The gains were “overwhelmingly driven by robust hiring among package delivery services for the fourth month in a row.”

Terrazas also noted the big jump in truck transportation in a market dogged by pessimism. “The strong reported hiring in the freight sector feels very contrary to industry sentiment of continued softness in the freight market, perhaps reflecting temporary activity as businesses tried to front-run new tariffs,” he wrote in an email to FreightWaves.

Mazen Danaf, an economist with Uber Freight (NYSE: UBER), described the increase in truck transportation jobs as “counter-seasonal and counter-cyclical.”

“This uptick might represent a delayed hiring response following January’s temporary spot market tightening due to weather disruptions, which preceded an anticipated collapse similar to the previous year,” he said in an email to FreightWaves. “However, given the persistent signs of stagnant demand, I do not expect this trend to persist.” Manaf went so far as to already project a drop in employment this month.

In other highlights from the monthly report:

• Rail jobs totaled 153,600, a decline of 700. After revisions in January and February numbers, rail employment is down 1,100 jobs in just two months, a large decline in a sector where changes are generally just 100-200 at a time, up or down.

• The hourly earnings of nonsupervisory employees in truck transportation has now been above $30 per hour for four consecutive months. That data is on a one-month lag and climbed to $30.50 in February, up from $30.09. The previous high was $30.16 in December, so this latest figure is a significant rise given that it is usually measured in much smaller increments.

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