The number of workers employed in truck transportation in October was unchanged from September.
That end result in the October report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, released Friday, came from two developments.
First, the BLS revised downward its initial figure on truck transportation jobs in September to 1,471,300 from 1,473,100.
And then the BLS’s estimate of truck transportation jobs for October came in at the same number as the revised September figure.
In the last 10 years of data provided by the BLS, it’s the first time in that span that truck transportation jobs were unchanged month-to-month after revisions.
Given that the September figure can be revised one more time before the broader full-year revisions released with the January report, and October can be revised two more times, the parity between the two months might not hold.
Data for August had its final revision for 2026. The BLS dropped the estimate for truck transportation jobs in August by 100.
With the latest revisions, the notable development that occured last month, where truck transportation jobs were more than they were a year earlier, is no longer in place. Last month was the first time since early 2023 that truck transportation jobs were up year-on-year.
But October 2026 jobs are 1,600 jobs less than they were a year ago.
Warehouse was quiet too
The lack of big movement in logistics jobs could also be seen in warehouse employment.
Those figures are often subject to more volatile movement than truck transportation jobs. But in October, they were only down 300 jobs from September.
Where the volatility reared its head again was in the revisions. The initial report for September put warehouse jobs at 1,831,800 jobs. But the latest revision significantly increased that number, putting it at 1,839,700 jobs.
With an almost 4,000 job upward revision for August figures, warehouse jobs in October were essentially unchanged over the prior 12 months. The figure for October 2025 was 1,839,900 jobs, just 700 jobs more than where they came in for October 2026.
No big shift in subsectors
In truck transportation, the subsectors also did not move much.
Data for specific subcategories within truck transportation showed little change. They are published on a one-month lag.
According to the BLS, truckload jobs fell 500 jobs in September from August, coming in at 502,800 jobs. They have been on a small month-to-month climb since March, but that comes after declines in late 2025 and early 2026. The end result is that the 502,800 jobs in September were just 1,500 jobs more than they were a year ago.
LTL jobs followed a similar pattern but with more growth. The 249,500 LTL jobs reported by the BLS for September were 2,200 jobs more than they were a year ago, but were a significant gain over the recent cyclical low of 243,600 jobs reported in February.
Long-term, the data provided by BLS goes back 10 years. And it shows that in September 2016, LTL jobs were 247,400 jobs, which means the industry has added just 2,100 jobs in ten years.
Capacity not coming back
Jason Miller, a professor of supply chain management, saw in those relatively flat numbers for truckload an indication that “any rebound in capacity is very slow at best.”
However, looking to the report that will be issued in February with the full year revisions, Miller said in an email to FreightWaves that he thinks changes in the basic model will result in figures on truckload employment to be revised downward, “based on the more comprehensive administrative records.”
“With this said, the data suggest that amongst establishments that are responding to the BLS survey, we aren’t seeing further declines in capacity,” Miller added.
The broader numbers with their flat month-to-month figure, Miller said, carries a message that “capacity amongst reporting establishments has likewise halted the downward slide and is effectively moving sideways, neither expanding nor contracting.”
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