Trade, Transportation, and Utilities

About the Trade, Transportation, and Utilities supersector

The trade, transportation, and utilities supersector is part of the service-providing industries supersector group.

The trade, transportation, and utilities supersector consists of these sectors:

• Wholesale Trade: NAICS 42
• Retail Trade: NAICS 44-45
• Transportation and Warehousing: NAICS 48-49
• Utilities: NAICS 22

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment in trade, transportation, and utilities. These data are obtained from employer or establishment surveys. The following tables present an overview of the industry including the number of jobs, job openings and labor turnover, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment and Openings, Hires, and Separations

Data series	Back data	Jul. 2023	Aug. 2023	Sep. 2023	Oct. 2023
Employment (in thousands)
Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)		28,870	28,842	(p)28,885	(p)28,884
Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees (seasonally adjusted)		24,329	24,313	(p)24,361	(p)24,357
Job openings, hires, and separations (in thousands)
Job openings		1,619	1,321	(p)1,463
Hires		1,151	1,203	(p)1,190
Separations		1,167	1,334	(p)1,141
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey)

Projections

For projected (future) employment estimates in trade, transportation, and utilities, see the Employment and projected employment by major industry sector table.

(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 are shown. 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 All Employees

Data series	Back data	Jul. 2023	Aug. 2023	Sep. 2023	Oct. 2023
Average hourly earnings		$29.05	$29.14	(p)$29.26	(p)$29.26
Average weekly hours		33.9	34.0	(p)33.9	(p)33.8
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees

Data series	Back data	Jul. 2023	Aug. 2023	Sep. 2023	Oct. 2023
Average hourly earnings		$25.28	$25.37	(p)$25.42	(p)$25.48
Average weekly hours		34.0	34.0	(p)34.0	(p)33.9
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Employee Benefits

This section presents data on the incidence (the percentage of workers with access to and participation in employer-provided benefit plans) and provisions of selected employee benefits from the National Compensation Survey. More Benefits estimates are also accessible from the Benefits database, the archived NCS publications page, and the complete Employee Benefits Excel dataset (XLSX).

Data series	Access		Participation
	Back data	2023	Back data	2023
Private industry
Retirement benefit plans		79		51
Defined benefit plans		18		14
Defined contribution plans		72		43

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Data series	After 1 year of service		After 20 years of service
	Back data	2023	Back data	2023
Mean number of vacation days for private industry workers without consolidated leave plans		7		18

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Data series	Back data	2023
Percent of private industry workers with access to employer-sponsored benefits
Health care		71
Paid vacation		81
Paid sick leave		78

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Employer Compensation Costs

Data series	Back data	4th quarter 2022	1st quarter 2023	2nd quarter 2023	3rd quarter 2023
Private industry
12-month percent change
Total compensation		4.9%	4.4%	4.3%	4.3%
Wages and salaries		4.9%	4.6%	4.4%	4.4%
3-month percent change
Total compensation		0.8%	1.3%	1.4%	0.7%
Wages and salaries		0.9%	1.2%	1.4%	0.8%

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

Data series	Private industry
	Compensation component ($ per hour worked)		Percent of total compensation
	Back data	2nd quarter 2023	Back data	2nd quarter 2023
Total compensation		35.08		100.0
Wages and salaries		25.01		71.3
Total benefits		10.07		28.7
Insurance		2.58		7.4
Retirement		1.28		3.7
Paid leave		2.29		6.5

(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 trade, transportation, and utilities. 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.

(Source: Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments in trade, transportation, and utilities.

Establishments

Data series	Back data	3rd quarter 2022	4th quarter 2022	1st quarter 2023	2nd quarter 2023
Number of establishments
Private industry		2,036,352	2,048,400	(p)2,046,494	(p)2,062,814
Local government		12,049	12,038	(p)12,063
State government		969	969	(p)965
Federal government		30,316	30,298	(p)30,353
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Data extracted on: November 30, 2023