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	Jun. 2020	Jul. 2020	Aug. 2020	Sep. 2020
Employment (in thousands)
Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)		25,852	26,136	(p)26,490	(p)26,727
Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees (seasonally adjusted)		21,745	21,976	(p)22,327	(p)22,557
Job openings, hires, and separations (in thousands)
Job openings		1,055	1,318	(p)1,222
Hires		1,452	1,261	(p)1,309
Separations		1,030	1,154	(p)1,219
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	Jun. 2020	Jul. 2020	Aug. 2020	Sep. 2020
Average hourly earnings		$25.06	$25.34	(p)$25.43	(p)$25.59
Average weekly hours		34.3	34.1	(p)34.1	(p)34.3
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees

Data series	Back data	Jun. 2020	Jul. 2020	Aug. 2020	Sep. 2020
Average hourly earnings		$21.66	$21.32	(p)$21.63	(p)$21.63
Average weekly hours		34.1	34.2	(p)34.0	(p)34.1
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Employer Compensation Costs

Data series	Back data	4th quarter 2019	1st quarter 2020	2nd quarter 2020	3rd quarter 2020
12-month percent change
Total compensation		2.9%	2.7%	2.9%	2.6%
Wages and salaries		3.3%	3.3%	3.5%	2.9%

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

Data series	Back data	2nd quarter 2020
		Compensation component ($ per hour worked)	Percent of total compensation
Compensation costs
Total compensation		29.77	100.0
Wages and salaries		20.95	70.4
Total benefits		8.82	29.6
Insurance		2.42	8.1
Retirement		1.19	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	Back data	2nd quarter 2019	3rd quarter 2019	4th quarter 2019	1st quarter 2020
Number of establishments
Private industry		1,937,475	1,943,181	1,949,344	(p)1,950,157
Local government		12,002	12,001	11,995	(p)12,013
State government		979	978	977	(p)979
Federal government		30,164	30,184	30,176	(p)30,245
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

 

Data extracted on: October 30, 2020