Freight Facts and Figures 2012

Table 4-4. Employment in For-Hire Transportation Establishments Primarily Serving Freight: 1990, 2000, and 2009-2011¹

Employment in many transportation industries has remained steady or has grown over the past two decades with the notable exception of railroads and pipelines, which have declined by 15 percent and 28 percent, respectively, between 1990 and 2011. Trucking in 2011 accounted for 30 percent of total transportation and warehousing sector employment.

Table in Excel format | Historical data

Thousands of employees

	1990	2000	2009	2010	2011
Total U.S. labor force2	109,487	131,785	130,807	(R) 130,346	132,186
Transportation and warehousing	3,476	4,410	4,236	(R) 4,235	4,322
Rail transportation	272	232	218	(R) 223	232
Water transportation	57	56	63	63	63
Truck transportation	1,122	1,406	1,268	(R) 1,271	1,318
Air transportation3	541	628	460	454	456
Pipeline transportation	60	46	43	42	43
Support activities for transportation4	364	537	549	(R) 548	574
Couriers and messengers	375	605	546	527	522
Warehousing and storage	407	514	637	(R) 643	650

Key: R = revised

¹Annual averages.

²Excludes farm employment.

³Data for air transportation includes passenger and freight transportation employment.

⁴Industries in the support activities for transportation subsector provide services that 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 July 16, 2012.

 

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