Office of Operations Freight Management and Operations

Freight Facts and Figures 2008

Table 4-3. Employment in For-Hire Transportation Establishments Primarily Serving Freight: 1980-20071

Employment in many transportation industries has remained steady or has grown over the past two decades with the notable exception of railroads.  While the long-term trend may have reversed in recent months, rail employment declined by 55 percent between 1980 and 2007.  Consequently, in 2007 rail transportation employed only 5 percent of those working in the transportation and warehousing industry compared with 18 percent in 1980.  By comparison, employment in trucking in 2007 accounted for about one-third of employment in transportation and warehousing.

Table in Excel format | Historical data

Thousands of employees

Blank cell. 1980 1990 2000 2006 2007
Total U.S. labor force2 90,528 109,487 131,785 (R) 136,086 137,623
Transportation and warehousing 2,961 3,476 4,410 (R) 4,470 4,536
Rail transportation 518 272 232 (R) 228 234
Water transportation NA 57 56 (R) 63 64
Truck transportation NA 1,122 1,406 (R) 1,436 1,441
Pipeline transportation NA 60 46 39 40
Support activities for transportation3 NA 364 537 571 583
Couriers and messengers NA 375 605 (R) 582 583
Warehousing and storage NA 407 514 (R) 638 659

Key: NA = not available; R = revised.

1Annual averages.

2Excludes farm employment.

3Industries in the Support Activities for Transportation subsector provide services which support transportation. These services may be provided to transportation carrier establishments or to the general public. This subsector includes a wide array of establishments, including air traffic control services, marine cargo handling, and motor vehicle towing.

Notes:

These data include workers employed in transportation industries but not necessarily in a transportation occupation, such as a lawyer working for a trucking company. Moreover, these data exclude workers in transportation occupations employed by non-transportation industries, such as a truck driver employed by a retail company.

Source:

U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics survey, available at www.bls.gov as of May 23, 2008.

 

 


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