Transportation and Warehousing: NAICS 48-49

About the Transportation and Warehousing sector

The transportation and warehousing sector is part of the trade, transportation, and utilities supersector.

The Transportation and Warehousing sector includes industries providing transportation of passengers and cargo, warehousing and storage for goods, scenic and sightseeing transportation, and support activities related to modes of transportation. Establishments in these industries use transportation equipment or transportation related facilities as a productive asset. The type of equipment depends on the mode of transportation. The modes of transportation are air, rail, water, road, and pipeline.

North American Industry Classification System

The transportation and warehousing sector consists of these subsectors:

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment and unemployment in transportation and warehousing. While most data are obtained from employer or establishment surveys, information on industry unemployment comes from a national survey of households. The following tables present an overview of the industry including the number of jobs, the unemployment rate of those previously employed in the industry, union membership and representation, gross job gains and losses, mass layoffs, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment, Unemployment, and Layoffs

Data series Back
data
Dec.
2008
Jan.
2009
Feb.
2009
Mar.
2009

Employment (in thousands)

 

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

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4,389.9 4,354.4 (P) 4,324.0 (P) 4,290.0

Employment, nonsupervisory workers (seasonally adjusted)

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3,823.0 3,794.6 (P) 3,765.7 (P) 3,752.0

Unemployment

 

Unemployment rate

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7.1% 8.8% 9.5% 9.6%

Layoffs

 

Mass layoff events

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196 236 80 91

Initial claimants for unemployment benefits

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22,751 25,081 7,864 8,809

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Current Population Survey, Mass Layoff Statistics)

Union Membership and Representation

Data series Back
data
2005 2006 2007 2008

Union membership and representation

 

Members of unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

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23.4% 22.2% 20.9% 21.3%

Represented by unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

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24.4% 23.4% 22.3% 22.4%

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Dynamic Changes in Employment

Data series Back
data
3rd quarter
2007
4th quarter
2007
1st quarter
2008
2nd quarter
2008

Dynamic changes in employment (in thousands)

 

Gross job gains

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224 254 208 225

Gross job losses

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233 229 250 253

(Source: Business Employment Dynamics)

Extended Mass Layoffs

Data series Back
data
1st quarter
2008
2nd quarter
2008
3rd quarter
2008
4th quarter
2008

Extended mass layoff events

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49 191 (P) 131 (P) 109

Separations

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10,250 44,637 (P) 24,199 (P) 21,014

Initial claimants

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8,552 44,000 (P) 23,303 (P) 13,588

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Mass Layoff Statistics)

Employment by Occupation

Data series Employment,
2008

Airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers

72,980

Bus drivers, school

158,980

Railroad conductors and yardmasters

35,890

Sailors and marine oilers

24,880

Truck drivers, heavy and tractor-trailer

936,640

(Source: Occupational Employment Statistics)

Projections

For projected (future) employment estimates, see the National Employment Matrix, which includes employment estimates by industry and occupation for transportation and warehousing.

(Source: Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections)

Earnings and Hours

This section presents data on employee earnings and weekly hours. The latest industry averages of hourly earnings and weekly hours for production or nonsupervisory employees, as well as weekly earnings by union membership status, are shown. In addition, recent hourly and annual earnings are shown for occupations commonly found in transportation and warehousing. This section also contains information on the average cost of benefits paid by employers, as well as recent rates of change in wages and total compensation.

Earnings and Hours of Production Workers

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data
Dec.
2008
Jan.
2009
Feb.
2009
Mar.
2009

Average hourly earnings

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$18.66 $18.72 (P) $18.72 (P) $18.69

Average weekly hours

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36.2 36.0 (P) 35.7 (P) 36.0

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Union Membership and Representation

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data
Median weekly earnings
2005 2006 2007 2008

Union membership and representation

 

Full-time workers

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$688 $700 $696 $744

Members of unions

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$829 $831 $846 $897

Represented by unions

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$827 $828 $835 $895

Nonunion

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$640 $661 $657 $710

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series Wages, 2008
Hourly Annual
Median Mean Median Mean

Airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers

(1) $- (1) $- $113,920 $121,370

Bus drivers, school

$13.41 $13.57 $27,880 $28,230

Railroad conductors and yardmasters

$24.81 $25.98 $51,600 $54,030

Sailors and marine oilers

$16.30 $17.18 $33,900 $35,740

Truck drivers, heavy and tractor-trailer

$18.81 $19.24 $39,120 $40,020

Footnotes
(1) Wages for some occupations that do not generally work year-round, full time, are reported either as hourly wages or annual salaries depending on how they are typically paid.

(Source: Occupational Employment Statistics)

Employer Compensation Costs

Data series Back
data
2nd quarter
2008
3rd quarter
2008
4th quarter
2008
1st quarter
2009

12-month percent change

 

Total compensation

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2.3% 2.2% 2.3% 1.7%

Wages and salaries

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2.2% 2.5% 2.6% 2.1%

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)



Data series Back
data
4th quarter 2008
Compensation component
($ per hour worked)
Percent of total compensation

Compensation costs

 

Total compensation

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31.63 100.0

Wages and salaries

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20.81 65.8

Total benefits

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10.82 34.2

Insurance

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3.18 10.0

Retirement

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1.76 5.6

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

Work-related Fatalities, Injuries, and Illnesses

This section presents data for the industry on the number of workplace fatalities and the rates of workplace injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers in transportation and warehousing. An injury or illness is considered to be work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition.

Data series 2004 2005 2006 2007

Fatalities

 

Number of fatalities

876 926 894 923

Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers

 

Total recordable cases

7.3 7.0 6.5 6.4

Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer

4.9 4.6 4.3 4.3

Cases involving days away from work

3.1 2.9 2.7 2.7

Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction

1.8 1.7 1.6 1.6

(Source: Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities)

Prices

This section provides industry-specific pricing information. The producer price index measures the percentage change in prices that domestic producers receive for goods and services. The prices included in the producer price index are from the first commercial transaction.

Data series Back
data
Dec.
2008
Jan.
2009
Feb.
2009
Mar.
2009

Producer price index

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(P) 109.5 (P) 108.6 (P) 108.1 (P) 106.7

Percent change from previous month

 

(P) -2.5% (P) -0.8% (P) -0.5% (P) -1.3%

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Producer Price Indexes)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments and the number of establishments experiencing job gains or job losses in transportation and warehousing.

Establishments

Data series Back
data
4th quarter
2007
1st quarter
2008
2nd quarter
2008
3rd quarter
2008

Number of establishments

 

Private industry

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223,739 (P) 222,899 (P) 223,459 (P) 224,191

Local government

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2,475 (P) 2,494 (P) 2,500 (P) 2,504

State government

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501 (P) 525 (P) 523 (P) 523

Federal government

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30,766 (P) 30,753 (P) 30,747 (P) 30,750

Establishments with changes in employment (in thousands)

 

With job gains (seasonally adjusted)

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53 52 51  

With job losses (seasonally adjusted)

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56 56 56  

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Business Employment Dynamics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Other BLS Resources

The Editor's Desk

See industry studies in the subject matter index of The Editor's Desk (Current Edition).

Monthly Labor Review

See transportation in the Index of the Monthly Labor Review Online (Current Issue).

Career Guide to Industries

To learn about careers from an industry perspective, see the Career Guide to Industries.

 

Data extracted on: May 01, 2009