Industries at a Glance

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:

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	Sep. 2019	Oct. 2019	Nov. 2019	Dec. 2019
Employment (in thousands)
Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)	27,834	27,877	(p)27,873	(p)27,913
Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees (seasonally adjusted)	23,550	23,557	(p)23,542	(p)23,573
Job openings, hires, and separations (in thousands)
Job openings	1,413	1,723	(p)1,192
Hires	1,228	1,384	(p)1,492
Separations	1,185	1,076	(p)1,083
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	Sep. 2019	Oct. 2019	Nov. 2019	Dec. 2019
Average hourly earnings	$24.39	$24.46	(p)$24.56	(p)$24.53
Average weekly hours	34.2	34.1	(p)34.0	(p)34.2
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees


Data series	Sep. 2019	Oct. 2019	Nov. 2019	Dec. 2019
Average hourly earnings	$20.78	$20.80	(p)$20.86	(p)$20.85
Average weekly hours	33.8	33.7	(p)33.6	(p)33.8
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Employer Compensation Costs


Data series	4th quarter 2018	1st quarter 2019	2nd quarter 2019	3rd quarter 2019
12-month percent change
Total compensation	3.4%	3.3%	3.1%	2.6%
Wages and salaries	3.4%	3.4%	3.4%	3.0%

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)


Data series	Back data	3rd quarter 2019
Data series	Back data	Compensation component ($ per hour worked)	Percent of total compensation
Compensation costs
Total compensation		28.82	100.0
Wages and salaries		20.30	70.4
Total benefits		8.53	29.6
Insurance		2.38	8.3
Retirement		1.15	4.0

(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.


Data series	2015	2016	2017	2018
Fatalities
Number of fatalities	1,282	1,364	1,426	1,431
Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.


Data series	2018
Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers
Total recordable cases	3.5
Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer	2.3
Cases involving days away from work	1.3
Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction	1.0
Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

(Source: Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities)

Workplace Trends

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

Establishments


Data series	3rd quarter 2018	4th quarter 2018	1st quarter 2019	2nd quarter 2019
Number of establishments
Private industry	1,931,836	1,942,354	(p)1,935,578	(p)1,944,722
Local government	11,981	11,980	(p)12,010	(p)12,014
State government	981	982	(p)979	(p)979
Federal government	29,876	29,904	(p)30,136	(p)30,169
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Data extracted on: January 17, 2020