Office of Operations Freight Management and Operations

Freight Facts and Figures 2009

Table 4-3. Employment in For-Hire Transportation Establishments Primarily Serving Freight: 1980-20081

Employment in many transportation industries has remained steady or has grown over the past two decades with the notable exception of railroads, which has declined by 56 percent between 1980 and 2008. Consequently, in 2008 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 2008 accounted for about 31 percent employment in transportation and warehousing.

Table in Excel format | Historical data

Thousands of employees

Blank cell. 1980 1990 2000 2007 2008
Total U.S. labor force2 90,528 109,487 131,785 (R) 137,598 137,066
Transportation and warehousing 2,961 3,476 4,410 (R) 4,541 4,505
Rail transportation 518 272 232 234 230
Water transportation NA 57 56 (R) 66 65
Truck transportation NA 1,122 1,406 (R) 1,439 1,391
Pipeline transportation NA 60 46 40 42
Support activities for transportation3 NA 364 537 (R) 584 590
Couriers and messengers NA 375 605 (R) 581 576
Warehousing and storage NA 407 514 (R) 665 673

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/ces as of June 11, 2009.

 


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