February employment shows decline in road transportation jobs

Compared to February 2024, trucking employment has decreased by more than 15,000 jobs.

The road transportation jobs were impacted in February due to seasonal declines and tariff changes. The latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that nearly 2,000 jobs were lost in the road transportation sector in February, with the possibility of greater losses.

Since January 2023, the industry has faced employment declines in every month except five. The industry experienced a recovery period during November 2024 and January 2025. However, compared to February 2024, trucking employment has decreased by more than 15,000 jobs.

Fluctuations in freight transportation market sentiment

In a recent article published by LandLine, David Spencer, Vice President of Market Intelligence at Arrive Logistics, argues that the “noisy signals” from the federal government’s employment report reflect fluctuations in the freight transportation market sentiment. He attributes seasonal slowdowns and the impact of tariffs as factors that reduced expectations from the previous month, when the outlook was more optimistic.

Spencer also warns that more jobs could be lost in road transportation if the current conditions do not improve. According to him, the most likely future scenario is a gradual decline in employment in the sector as companies face lower profit margins and adjust their operations for greater efficiency.

On the other hand, Jason Miller, Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management at Michigan State University, mentioned in the same article that the tariffs implemented by President Donald Trump may benefit some transportation companies, but overall, he anticipates that losses will outweigh gains. Miller advises transportation companies to start planning for unfavorable scenarios for 2025.

Labor statistics for the transportation sector

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that when considering all road transportation jobs, employment increased by nearly 18,000 jobs in February. Other notable figures include:

The messaging sector saw an increase of 23,500 jobs, contributing to the net growth in the transportation sector.
Employment in most sub-sectors remained virtually unchanged, except for an additional 3,500 jobs in air transportation.
Weekly wages in the transportation and warehousing sector increased by $1.52.
Compared to February 2024, hourly earnings rose from $30.38 to $31.10.
On a year-over-year basis, hourly wages increased by 55 cents to $29.59.

The unemployment rate rose by 0.1%, reaching 4.1%. In the transportation sector, the unemployment rate decreased by 1.2 percentage points compared to the previous year, standing at 4.7%. While still higher than pre-pandemic levels (2.8% in December 2019), it is much lower than the 15.7% recorded in May and July 2020.

Overall, the country created 151,000 jobs, below the expected 160,000, according to FactSet. Some economists, cited by Reuters, suggest that Trump’s erratic trade policy is causing uncertainty among businesses, which may be discouraging hiring.