Big gains for trucking jobs in January on adjusted basis but slide for non-adjusted

With the U.S. economy adding more jobs in January than even the most optimistic forecast — up 467,000 jobs — the truck transportation sector also reported solid gains.

Total truck transportation jobs rose 7,500 jobs in January on a seasonally adjusted basis, rising to 1,549,200 jobs, according to the monthly report issued by the Bureau of Labot Statistics Friday. With revisions in November and December, it means that the sector has tacked on 11,600 jobs since November, which was revised for the final time to a jobs figure of 1,537,600.

But on a not seasonally adjusted basis, jobs in the truck transportation sector fell significantly in January from December. Economists generally look at seasonally adjusted data as more meaningful, but many caution that the figures for not seasonally adjusted jobs should not be ignored. January jobs on a not seasonally adjusted basis in January were down to 1,534,200 jobs, which marks a decline of 12,000 jobs from December and a whopping 16,800 jobs since November.

Seasonally adjusted jobs have now recovered enough over the last two months that employment in the sector is past its all-time high. Pre-pandemic, the highest number of jobs in the sector was reported at 1,540,200 in June 2019. But both December 2021 and January 2022 came in more than that.