Freight Facts and Figures 2012
Table 4-4. Employment in For-Hire Transportation Establishments Primarily Serving Freight: 1990, 2000, and 2010-20121
Employment in the truck and water transportation industries has grown since 1990, while railroads, air transportation, and pipelines have experienced a decline in the number of employees. Between 1990 and 2012, pipelines showed the greatest decline, followed by air. Trucking in 2012 accounted for nearly 31 percent of total transportation and warehousing sector employment.
Table 4-4
Table in Excel format | Historical data
Thousands of employees
 |
1990 | 2000 | 2009 | 2011 | 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total U.S. labor force2 | 109,487 | 131,785 | 130,807 | 132,186 | 134,691 |
| Transportation and warehousing | 3,476 | 4,410 | 4,236 | 4,322 | 4,494 |
| Rail transportation | 272 | 232 | 218 | 232 | 230 |
| Water transportation | 57 | 56 | 63 | 63 | 63 |
| Truck transportation | 1,122 | 1,406 | 1,268 | 1,318 | 1,371 |
| Air transportation3 | 541 | 628 | 460 | 456 | 451 |
| Pipeline transportation | 60 | 46 | 43 | 43 | 44 |
| Support activities for transportation4 | 364 | 537 | 549 | 574 | 589 |
| Couriers and messengers | 375 | 605 | 546 | 522 | 560 |
| Warehousing and storage | 407 | 514 | 637 | 650 | 696 |
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 October 3, 2013.
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