Transportation hiring slows to a crawl in April, warehousing sees strong growth

Will big inventories eventually create demand for downstream trucking?

Although employment in truck transportation soared in March as the industry added 7,000 jobs, hiring in transportation slowed to a crawl in April.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released jobs numbers Friday morning that highlight the uncertainty and caution that has gripped the industry: Truck transportation added just 1,400 jobs in April, seasonally adjusted, for a total of 1,524,500 jobs, representing less than a tenth of a percent increase.

March figures were also revised downward, suggesting that the hiring in the industry is at an inflection point and may reverse course: Initially reported March numbers were at 1.525 million and were trimmed to 1.523 million. 

In April 2025, truck transportation employment was down 3.2% across the industry compared to April 2023, the record number for April, and down 3.9% from its all-time peak in July 2022.

(Chart: Bureau of Labor Statistics)

The railroad industry put hiring on pause, too, adding just 100 jobs from March to April and bringing its total employment to 153,800 in April, seasonally adjusted. 

On the other hand, as importers pulled forward freight onto American shores to avoid the Trump administration’s tariffs, inventories swelled, and so did seasonally adjusted warehousing and storage employment, adding 9,800 jobs in April from a massively upwardly revised March number. The initial March warehousing and storage employment figure was 1,822,400. With this latest release, that March number shot up to 1,843,600, an increase of more than 20,000 jobs. The initial April number, just reported Friday, stands at 1.853 million, another increase of approximately 10,000 jobs.

Courier jobs have essentially been steady. The initial March figure looked like the industry was posting a substantial increase in employment, but that was revised downward Friday morning, showing that the courier sector lost approximately 10,000 jobs from February to March, seasonally adjusted, to stand at 1,175,700 jobs in March. April added 8,400 courier jobs to bring the total to 1,184,100. 

“Trade war and tariff driven disruptions are the likely culprits behind the recent strength, as it has become more clear that proactive safety stocking from shippers has created a boost in short term trucking demand,” wrote David Spencer, vice president of market intelligence at Arrive Logistics, in an email to FreightWaves. “Strong growth of 29,000 jobs in the larger Transportation and Warehousing segment of the report illustrate the increased needs associated with the boost, particularly around warehousing and storage, as shippers pulled forward inventories ahead of potential price increases.”

“Despite widespread expectations for a large correction, the U.S. jobs market remains the little engine that could,” commented Aaron Terrazas, a labor economist, in an email to FreightWaves. “Payrolls grew at a pace in line with a healthy economy, though some of that comes with an asterisk. The latest wave of supply chain turmoil is very clearly visible in the data. The prior two months of headline payrolls were revised sharply down — so February’s job gain was initially reported as 151,000, but then revised down to 117,000 last month and now to 102,000. Data revisions are net neutral in the long term, but they can be especially important to watch at turning points in the economy. The underlying risk for 2025 is that initial reports look strong, but then the story shifts in subsequent months.”

Commenting on the surge in warehousing and storage jobs, Terrazas said, “It’s abundantly clear that this is an unseasonably large temporary uptick in payrolls associated with inventory and consumer front-loading ahead of expected tariffs.”

Average hourly earnings in truck transportation slipped slightly, but are still strong. The initial February report put truck transportation hourly earnings at $30.50, but that has since been revised upward to $32.05; the March number, just reported, is at $31.92, slightly down from a record high. Average weekly hours ticked up slightly to 40.4 in March from 39.9 in February, meaning that average weekly earnings for truck transportation employees ticked up by about $11.

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