Transportation Jobs Largely Unchanged in April

Employment in the trucking industry held mostly solid in April, shedding only 300 jobs, federal statistics show.

The Bureau of Labor Statics reported May 3 there were 1,557,800 seasonally adjusted jobs in the transportation sector. The reduction from March’s 1,558,100 jobs — while insignificant — was also the first month of job losses for the sector in 2024.

The broader transportation industry showed significant gains in April in other areas, with warehousing and storage adding 8,000 jobs, while couriers and messenger services added another 8,000 posts. It was the first significant employment boost for the wider industry in nearly a year, the agency reported.

For the overall economy, 175,000 non-farm jobs were added in April. This was less robust than normal, as the monthly average over the past year has been 242,000 jobs added per month. The federal unemployment rate for April was mostly unchanged at 3.9 percent, according to the agency.