Likely the result of businesses preparing for widespread tariffs, trucking jobs increased sharply in March – but the implementation of tariffs may erase those gains in the coming months.
According to the latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly 10,000 trucking jobs were added to the economy in March. This not only bucked the downward trend that began in January 2023 but also marked the biggest monthly increase since January 2022, when there was an increase of just over 10,000 jobs.
Revised data shows that the first two months of 2025 were not as bad for trucking jobs as preliminary numbers suggested. Rather than a loss of 1,700 jobs in January and February, updated data reveals a loss of only 500 jobs. With March’s surge in employment, trucking jobs are up by more than 9,000. However, that could be short-lived.
The sudden boost in trucking jobs likely stemmed from anticipated tariffs. In early March, President Donald Trump postponed tariffs on many Mexican and Canadian imports for one month. At the time, Trump indicated he would impose reciprocal tariffs globally in April.
Many businesses likely stocked up on imports ahead of the tariffs, increasing demand for trucking jobs. With warehouses fully stocked and those tariffs now in place, future demand for trucking freight could tumble, pushing out the jobs needed for the uptick in demand in March.
Zooming out, the picture is a little different. Trucking jobs were down by more than 5,000 from last March. Compared to peak employment in July 2022, there were 62,000 fewer truck drivers.
Accounting for all transportation sector jobs, employment increased by nearly 23,000 jobs in February.
The transportation sector’s net increase was almost entirely due to another surge in couriers and messengers (up 15,800) and the sharp increase in truck drivers. There were also large increases with support activities for transportation (up 3,900) and transit/ground passenger transport (up 2,300). Warehouse and storage employment plummeted by more than 9,000 jobs.
Month to month, wages were up in March. Average weekly earnings of all employees in the transportation and warehousing sector saw a $10 increase to $1,194.58. Compared to March 2024, hourly earnings increased to $31.19 from $30.47. Accounting only for production and nonsupervisory employees, average weekly earnings increased from $1,117.75 in February to $1,123.79. Year-to-year, hourly earnings rose by 72 cents to $29.73.
Across all industries, the nation gained 228,000 jobs, far surpassing the projected increase of only 130,000 jobs, according to financial data company FactSet. Strong job growth may be short-lived, as Trump’s tariffs – most of which go into effect early this month – are expected to slow down the economy.
The unemployment rate ticked up by 0.1 percentage point to 4.2%. Compared to the previous year, the unemployment rate for the transportation sector fell by 0.8 percentage points to 4.6%. That was still above the pre-pandemic December 2019 level of 2.8% but far below the 15.7% high in May and July 2020. LL
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