May 9, 2000 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Speedy growth of air courier industry

The faster growth of cargo transportation, as opposed to passenger traffic, is reflected in the more rapid growth of employment in the air courier industry (which carries only letters, parcels and packages) and the nonscheduled transport industry (which is dominated by cargo) in 1988-98.

[Chart data—TXT]

Air courier employment grew by 70 percent from 1988 to 1998, while employment in nonscheduled transport rose by 137 percent. Growth in air courier jobs accounted for 59 percent of the entire increase in jobs in transportation by air.

Employment in scheduled air transport increased by just 15 percent in this period. Scheduled air transportation is dominated by the more slowly growing passenger traffic.

These data are from the Current Employment Statistics program. To find out more, see "Transportation by air: job growth moderates from stellar rates," by William C. Goodman, Monthly Labor Review, March 2000.