Job growth in truck transportation remains muted

It also means that the number of workers in the truck transportation sector has not been able to recover from a brutal 2025, when the figure opened the year at 1,493,100 jobs and closed it at 1,467,200 jobs, slightly higher than where they stand today.

David Spencer, vice president of market intelligence at Arrive Logistics, said the slow growth in truck transportation employment has been several years in the marking.

“The decline in trucking employment amid the elevated rate environment illustrates the lasting impact multiple years of poor trucking conditions has had on carriers,” Spencer said in an email to FreightWaves. “Increased regulatory pressure is adding fuel to the fire, creating real driver availability problems. Elevated operating costs and a shifting landscape are limiting carriers’ ability to grow. The challenges are real, and continued rate increases may be needed to facilitate carrier’s being able to generate enough cashflow for carriers to recruit, hire and retain drivers.”
Aaron Terrazas, an independent economist with a background in trucking, noted that the month-to-month decline of truck transportation jobs recorded for June–down 1,300 jobs–came about primarily because of downward revisions for April and May.

“The consumer economy has been resilient but fragile — with retail spending better than worst-case scenarios, but it is largely being supported by non-discretionary spending,” he said in an email to FreightWaves.

The overall figures were negative, but Terrazas downplayed their long-term significance.

“After a string of upside surprises through the spring, June’s jobs numbers came in well below expectations: Payroll gains were half the consensus forecast, and the prior two months were revised modestly downward,” Terrazas said. “But don’t panic yet: job gains are still trending safely in neutral territory given slower population growth.”

That has occurred even with the  background of higher oil prices. “Energy prices have normalized in recent days, but I suspect many businesses will jump back into growth mode only with caution,” Terrazas said.

Recent strength in warehouse

Meanwhile, warehouse jobs are making a significant comeback in 2026.

Over the last three months, that category has risen by a total of 18,100 jobs, adding, respectively, 4,900, 8,100 and 5,100 jobs during that period.

Warehouse jobs are still less than they were a year ago, with a June total of 1,850,600 jobs notably less than the 1,871,900 jobs they were at in June 2025.

In other notable data from the report:

• Despite the strength in intermodal markets, rail jobs continue to stay below where they were a year ago. The June figure of 149,900 jobs was 200 jobs more than they were in May, and 400 jobs more than the final figure for April. But they are 5,300 jobs less than they were a year ago.

• The average number of hours worked in truck transportation in May–that data is on a one-month lag–was 41.2 hours. Since the end of the pandemic, that figure has been at 41.2 hours twice since October 2022, the two highest figures recorded for all of 2023 through May 2026. In the last ten years, that number has been above 42 hours a few times, but you’ve got to go back to 2021 to find any months at that level.

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