Truck Jobs Rose in November Seasonally but Fell Without Adjustment

Truck transportation jobs went up in November on a seasonally adjusted basis but declined on the less-watched not seasonally adjusted totals.

With the overall economy adding just 210,000 jobs, significantly below forecasts, truck transportation jobs performed relatively well in adding 5,100 jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis. Combined with revisions for October and September, it means that truck transportation jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis are now up almost 14,000 jobs in two months, rising to a total of 1,521,300 jobs in November from 1,507,800 jobs in September. 

But the numbers on a not seasonally adjusted basis were less encouraging. Economists generally look at seasonally adjusted figures as more significant, but others will caution that the not seasonally adjusted figures should not be ignored.

In that category, truck transportation jobs declined 800 jobs to 1,530,300 jobs from 1,531,100 jobs. However, they are still running well above the September figure of 1,520,400 jobs.

The figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics are subject to two revisions after their initial release. That means that numbers published by the BLS for September are now final and will not be revised further.

The warehousing and storage sector continued to grow sharply. On a seasonally adjusted basis, it added 8,800 jobs to 1,508,000 jobs. From September, that sector is now up a whopping 30,700 jobs. Compared to a year ago, jobs in that field are up almost 73,300 jobs. 

The growth in warehousing was dwarfed by another huge jump in the jobs total for couriers. That was up 26,800 jobs to 1,099,600 jobs, accounting for more than half of the entire transportation and warehousing sector, which saw 49,700 more jobs in total. The sector also includes air and water transportation, as well as transit and ground transportation.

FreightWaves will continue to cover this story later Friday. 

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