The U.S. for-hire trucking industry’s total employment fell by 2,400 jobs in May, according to figures reported Friday, June 3 by the Department of Labor.
Trucking employment in May totaled 1.4604 million, the lowest since last October.
May’s decline marked the third month this year that trucking industry employment has fallen on a month-to-month basis, bucking the trend of the overall U.S. economy’s monthly gains.
The U.S. as a whole in May added only 38,000 jobs, but the country’s unemployment rate fell to 4.7 percent, the lowest rate in eight years. The unemployment rate’s decline, however, was due almost entirely to a drop in the number of people looking for jobs, generally a sign of a weakening job market.
