Summary 10-01 / February 2010 • U.S. Department of Labor • U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Recession leads to lackluster employment 

in the trucking industry 

Truck transportation is the most widely used method 

of hauling freight within the 

United States. According to 

the Bureau of Transportation 

Statistics, the U.S. transportation network hauled more 

than 13 billion tons of goods 

worth nearly $12 trillion in 

2007. Trucks transported almost 9 billion tons of freight 

valued at more than $8 trillion for that same period.1

 Employment in trucking 

generally follows the larger 

business cycle. Consequently 

when the demand for goods 

is stifl ed, the call for freight 

services is likewise sluggish. A dramatic slowdown in 

consumer demand has been 

crippling the Nation’s trucking fi rms, making job losses 

during the current recession 

worse than at any time since 

the series began in 1990. (See 

chart 1.)

In the previous downturn, employment in trucking peaked in April 2000,2

nearly a year before the official start of the recession. 

In addition to peaking before 

the economy as a whole, employment in trucking continued to fall for 36 consecutive 

months, 17 months after the 

offi cial endpoint of the recession, as designated by the 

National Bureau of Economic 

Research.3

 During this time, 

the trucking industry cut 

91,000 jobs from payrolls, or 

6.4 percent of employment. 

The present downturn has witnessed a similar trend within 

the industry. The most recent 

employment peak occurred in 

January 2007, 11 months prior 

to the offi cial starting point of 

the current recession. Since 

then, employment within the 

industry has declined for 35 

months, resulting in the loss of 

208,000 jobs, or 14.3 percent 

of employment. (See chart 2.) 

One of the chief factors 

contributing to the current 

downward employment trend 

in the trucking industry is the 

lethargic state of the broader 

economy. As orders for goods 

and shipments recede because 

of soft production and fading 

sales, there has been an accompanying dip in the demand 

for freight services. This limited demand, compounded by 

tight credit for trucking fi rms 

and fl uctuating diesel fuel 

prices, has left many workers 

in the trucking industry unable 

to fi nd work.

Because trucks transport 

nearly all components and 

fi nished goods during some 

point in the supply chain, the 

health of the trucking industry 

is tied to that of the manufacturing sector. Industrial production has stalled over the 

last 7 months, as new durable 

shipments have dwindled and 

inventories have risen; fewer 

manufactured goods ultimately equates to less demand for 

freight services supplied by 

trucks. (See chart 3.)

This waning demand for 

truck transportation is also 

exemplifi ed by the Purchasing 

Manager Index (PMI), which 

is a barometer of production 

in the manufacturing sector. 

The PMI is a composite index 

based on fi ve major indicators: 

new orders, inventory levels, 

production, supplier deliveries, 

and employment. The index 

remained around 50 throughout 

most of 2008, but it dipped 

below 40 in October; it remained 

at similarly depressed levels 

through most of 2009, before 

notching back up above 50 in

August 2009.4

 

One can also view trends 

in trucking employment as 

consumer driven. (See chart 

4.) Consumers are struggling 

with stretched credit and a 

distressed housing market and 

are thus limiting discretionary 

spending, which for retailers 

translates into fewer sales. 

n real terms, retail sales 

figures were essentially flat 

throughout 2009.5 As sales 

slow, inventories rise; 

hence, there is less need for 

the shipping services used 

to transport finished goods. 

Trucks then sit idle.

While the slowdown in 

the trucking industry can be 

attributed largely to weak 

production and sales, other 

factors such as fl uctuating diesel fuel prices have also directly 

contributed to the declines. 

(See chart 5.) Although fuel 

prices have decreased since □

their peak in July 2008,6 the 

effect of these higher prices 

lingers with many trucking 

companies. After labor costs, 

fuel represents motor carriers’ 

highest operating expense, 

with smaller carriers typically 

spending a larger percentage 

of their total operating cost on 

diesel fuel.7

 As prices peaked

and fuel surcharges were 

insuffi cient to cover costs, 

reports indicated that high 

diesel fuel prices were 

putting some small trucking

companies out of business 

and causing others to reduce 

activity.8 Since peaking 

in January 2007, truck 

transportation has cut 208,000 

jobs from its payrolls. 

In sum, the general slump 

in the economy, which led 

to declining production and 

reduced consumption, as 

well as fl uctuating diesel fuel 

prices, has undermined the 

health of the U.S. trucking industry. Given the sector’s dependence on the overall economy, trucking fi rms have been 

forced to cut jobs, as production 

and sales remain sluggish and 

credit stays tight. For additional information, contact 

Emily Richards or Frank Conlon, economists in the Divison 

of Current Employment Stastistics, Offi ce of Employment 

and Unemployment Statistics. 

Email: richards.emily@bls.

gov or conlon.frank@bls.

gov Telephone: 202 691-6558 

or 691-6258.
Notes

 1 U.S. Department of Transportation 

Research and Innovative Technology 

Administration, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Transportation Statistics Annual Report (Washington, 

DC: 2008), p. 25; on the Internet at 

http://www.bts.gov/publications/

transportation_statistics_annual_

report/2008/pdf/entire.pdf. 2 Employment data used in this 

employment Statistics (CES) program, which each month surveys 

about 150,000 nonfarm businesses 

and government agencies, representing approximately 390,000 individual establishments. For more information on the program’s concepts 

and methodology, see CES Technical 

Notes, on the BLS Web site at http://

www.bls.gov/ces/#publications. 

CES data are available at http://

www.bls.gov/ces. Data used in this 

article are seasonally adjusted unless 

otherwise noted.

 3 Recession dates are determined 

by the National Bureau of Economic 

Research (NBER). NBER has not yet 

deter-mined an endpoint for the recession that began in December 2007. For 

more information, see “U.S. Business 

Cycle Expansions and Contractions,” 

on the NBER Web site at http://www.

nber.org/cycles/cyclesmain.html. 4 A PMI reading of more than 50 in 

a given month indicates an expasion 

compared with the prior month, a 

reading below 50 represents a contration, and a reading of 50 indicates 

zero change.

 5 Retail sales in real terms were 

derived by defl ating retail sales by 

the consumer price index (CPI). Data 

on monthly retail sales are provided 

by the Census Bureau and can be 

found at http://www.census.gov. CPI 

data are produced by the Bureau of 

Labor Statistics; more information is 

available at http://www.bls.gov/cpi.

 6 Energy Information Administration, 

Monthly U.S. No 2 Diesel Retail Sales 

by All Sellers, on the Internet at http://

tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/hist/

ddr001m.htm. 7 The American Trucking Associations, inc., “The impact of rising gas 

prices on America’s small businesses,” 

Statement before the Senate Committee 

on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, 

June 14, 2007, on the Internet at http://

www.truckline.com/Newsroom/

Testimony1/Testimony%20of%20

Tim%20Lynch%20before%20

the%20Senate%20Committee%20

on%20Small%20Business%20

on%20Impact%20of%20Rising%20

Gas%20Prices.pdf. 8 Summary of Commentary on 

Current Economic Conditions by 

Federal Reserve Districts, April 

2008, on the Internet at http://

www.federalreserve.gov/FOMC/

Beigebook/2008/20080416/

fullreport20080416.pdf. 

Chart 1. Employment in truck transportation, seasonally adjusted, January 1990–December 2009

NOTE: Shaded areas represent recessions, as determined by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). NBER has 

not yet determined an endpoint for the recession that began in December 2007. 

Thousands

1,500

1,200

1,450

1,400

1,150

1,100

1,350

1,300

1,250

1,050

1,000

19911990 1992 1993 1994 19961995 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Chart 3. Inventory-Shipments ratio of total manufacturing and employment in truck transportation, 

 seasonally adjusted, 1992–2009

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Inventory-shipments

ratio

1.8

0.6

1.6

1.4

0.4

0.2

1.2

1.0

0.8

0.0

Inventory-sales ratio

Trucking employment

Employment in truck

transportation

1,500

1,400

1,300

1,200

1,100

1,000

19931992 1994 1995 1996 199919981997 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Chart 2. Index of truck transportation employment from beginning of last three recessions, 

 seasonally adjusted

Number of months prior to and following start of recession

NOTE: Business cycle peak month for each recession = 0, as determined by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Index (fi rst month

of recession = 100)

102

90

100

98

88

86

96

94

92

2001

2007

1990

–4–6 –2 0 2 864 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24

Start of recession:

July 1990

March 2001

December 2007
Chart 4. Retail sales and employment in truck transportation, seasonally adjusted, 1992–2009

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Employment

(thousands)

1,500

1,200

1,450

1,400

1,150

1,100

1,350

1,300

1,250

1,050

1,000

Employment in trucking

Retal sales

400,00

350,00

300,00

250,00

200,00

150,00

100,00

Retail

(Millions of Dollars)

19931992 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Chart 5. Diesel fuel prices and employment in truck transportation, seasonally adjusted, 

 March 1994–December 2009

Source: Energy Information Administration.

Diesel price

Trucking employment

Thousands Dollars

1,500

1,200

1,450

1,400

1,150

1,100

1,350

1,300

1,250

1,050

1,000

5.00

4.50

4.00

3.50

3.00

2.50

0.50

0.00

1.50

2.00

1.00

1994 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 1995 1996 1997 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009