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Rail Transportation: NAICS 482

About the Rail Transportation subsector

The rail transportation subsector is part of the transportation and warehousing sector.

Industries in the Rail Transportation subsector provide rail transportation of passengers and/or cargo using railroad rolling stock. The railroads in this subsector primarily either operate on networks, with physical facilities, labor force, and equipment spread over an extensive geographic area, or operate over a short distance on a local rail line.

North American Industry Classification System

The rail transportation subsector consists of a single industry group, Rail Transportation: NAICS 4821.

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment in rail transportation. These data are obtained from employer or establishment surveys. The following tables present an overview of the industry including the number of jobs, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment

Data series Back
data
Jun.
2024
Jul.
2024
Aug.
2024
Sep.
2024

Employment (in thousands)

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

151.9 150.9 (p)150.3 (p)150.1

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Employment by Occupation

Data series Employment,
2023

Locomotive engineers

31,040

Rail car repairers

9,320

Rail-track laying and maintenance equipment operators

9,280

Railroad brake, signal, and switch operators

11,640

Railroad conductors and yardmasters

36,400

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)

Projections

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

(Source: Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections)

Earnings

Recent hourly and annual earnings for occupations commonly found in rail transportation.

Earnings by Occupation

Data series Wages, 2023
Hourly Annual
Median Mean Median Mean

Locomotive engineers

35.95 36.76 74,770 76,470

Rail car repairers

34.45 33.11 71,660 68,870

Rail-track laying and maintenance equipment operators

31.78 31.53 66,100 65,590

Railroad brake, signal, and switch operators

30.69 30.39 63,840 63,210

Railroad conductors and yardmasters

32.42 35.20 67,430 73,220

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)

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 rail transportation. 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 2019 2020 2021 2022

Fatalities

Number of fatalities

11   13 8

Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

Data series 2022

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

Total recordable cases

2.1

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

1.5

Cases involving days away from work

1.4

Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction

0.1

Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

(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
Jun.
2024
Jul.
2024
Aug.
2024
Sep.
2024

Producer price index

(p)235.823 (p)237.160 (p)236.999 (p)237.694

Percent change from previous month

  (p)0.0% (p)0.6% (p)-0.1% (p)0.3%

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Producer Price Indexes)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments in rail transportation.

Establishments

Data series Back
data
2nd quarter
2023
3rd quarter
2023
4th quarter
2023
1st quarter
2024

Number of establishments

Private industry

158 163 170 (p)174

Local government

       

State government

2 2 2 (p)2

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Productivity

This section presents productivity and related data for the industry, presented as the percent change from the previous year. Measures of total factor productivity (TFP) compare growth in output to the growth in a combination of inputs that include labor, capital, energy, materials, and services. Measures of labor productivity, or output per hour, compare the growth in output to the growth in hours worked.

Data series Back
data
2019 2020 2021 2022

Total factor productivity (TFP)

-3.0 -2.7 5.7 2.3

Output

-4.8 -13.0 7.9 3.8

Combined inputs

-1.9 -10.6 2.0 1.4

Capital input

0.0 0.0 -0.1 0.4

Labor input

-2.5 -13.9 -4.2 2.4

Labor productivity, output per hour

-2.2 2.1 12.2 1.2

(Source: Productivity)

 

Data extracted on: October 11, 2024