The May jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported truck transportation jobs at 1,424,800, down 4,400 jobs from April's revised figure.
This downward trend reverses the big increase in truck transportation jobs reported last month, which had put employment levels on track for a continued upward move.
The revision in April numbers still puts it up 4,900 jobs from March, but overall, May's employment number for truck transportation was just 500 jobs more than in March.
Despite this brief gain, the end result is that truck transportation employment in May was down 2,400 jobs from where it stood at the end of last year and almost 23,000 jobs from May 2025.
The decline in trucking jobs is a mixed signal for the economy, as it suggests a tightening labor market but also a lack of growth in the industry.
Warehouse jobs, on the other hand, posted their fourth straight month of higher numbers with a gain of 6,400 jobs in May, bringing total warehouse jobs to 1,824,400.
This represents a significant increase from last year's level of 1,875,300 jobs and is the largest single-month gain since May 2024.
The strong numbers overall are tempered by the decline in trucking jobs, which suggests that the industry is still struggling to recover from the pandemic.
As economists point out, shippers should remain cautious when viewing these employment upticks, as overall levels stay critically low relative to the past decade.
The decline in trucking jobs is a mixed signal for the economy, as it suggests a tightening labor market but also a lack of growth in the industry.
