June job growth solid but slowing in truck transportation sector 

Truck transportation jobs grew in June but at a slower pace than the last several months.

Since the gigantic decline of 78,800 jobs in April 2020 at the start of the pandemic, seasonally adjusted truck transportation jobs reported monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics have grown every month but one, a 2,700-job decline in March. 

But the 4,300 jobs added in June were far less than the pace of the last few months. The increase in truck transportation jobs in May was 16,900; in April, it was 14,900 jobs. And before that one-month decline in March, the growth was 11,000 jobs in February and 6,800 jobs in January.

The total figure for June was 1,589,500 jobs in the BLS’ truck transportation sector. A year ago, there were 1,516,900 jobs.

But it was in the not seasonally adjusted numbers that suggest the market for truck transportation jobs is stronger than the seasonally adjusted numbers. Truck transportation jobs in that category were up 20,600 jobs, a significant one-month increase. Most labor economists look more closely at seasonally adjusted jobs but also caution that the not seasonally adjusted numbers should not be ignored. Additionally, the not seasonally adjusted number for May was adjusted upward by 4,200 jobs, and the April figure was also adjusted upward by a small amount. The net result is that on a not seasonally adjusted basis, 1,597,000 truck transportation jobs in June is up more than 47,000 jobs in just three months.