Transportation and Warehousing: NAICS 48-49

About the Transportation and Warehousing sector

The transportation and warehousing sector is part of the trade, transportation, and utilities supersector.

The transportation and warehousing sector consists of these subsectors:

• Air Transportation: NAICS 481
• Rail Transportation: NAICS 482
• Water Transportation: NAICS 483
• Truck Transportation: NAICS 484
• Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation: NAICS 485
• Pipeline Transportation: NAICS 486
• Scenic and Sightseeing Transportation: NAICS 487
• Support Activities for Transportation: NAICS 488
• Postal Service: NAICS 491
• Couriers and Messengers: NAICS 492
• Warehousing and Storage: NAICS 493

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment and unemployment in transportation and warehousing. While most data are obtained from employer or establishment surveys, information on industry unemployment comes from a national survey of households. The following tables present an overview of the industry including the number of jobs, the unemployment rate of those previously employed in the industry, union membership and representation, gross job gains and losses, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment and Unemployment

Data series	Back data	May 2023	Jun. 2023	Jul. 2023	Aug. 2023
Employment (in thousands)
Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)		6,738.6	6,719.5	(p)6,709.5	(p)6,675.3
Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees (seasonally adjusted)		5,878.8	5,866.4	(p)5,856.0	(p)5,844.9
Unemployment
Unemployment rate		3.6%	3.3%	4.9%	4.9%
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Current Population Survey

Union Membership and Representation

Data series	Back data	2019	2020	2021	2022
Union membership and representation
Members of unions (percent of wage and salary workers)		16.1%	17.0%	14.7%	14.5%
Represented by unions (percent of wage and salary workers)		17.6%	18.2%	16.1%	15.5%

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Dynamic Changes in Employment

Data series	Back data	1st quarter 2022	2nd quarter 2022	3rd quarter 2022	4th quarter 2022
Dynamic changes in employment (in thousands)
Gross job gains		366	321	381	466
Gross job losses		393	477	326	331

(Source: Business Employment Dynamics)

Employment by Occupation

Data series	Employment, 2022
Airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers	83,490
Bus drivers, school
Railroad conductors and yardmasters	36,270
Sailors and marine oilers	21,630
Truck drivers, heavy and tractor-trailer	1,152,570

(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 transportation and warehousing.

(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, as well as weekly earnings by union membership status, are shown. In addition, recent hourly and annual earnings are shown for occupations commonly found in transportation and warehousing. 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	May 2023	Jun. 2023	Jul. 2023	Aug. 2023
Average hourly earnings		$28.95	$29.12	(p)$29.23	(p)$29.37
Average weekly hours		37.9	38.1	(p)38.2	(p)38.1
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees

Data series	Back data	May 2023	Jun. 2023	Jul. 2023	Aug. 2023
Average hourly earnings		$27.62	$27.72	(p)$27.92	(p)$27.99
Average weekly hours		37.6	37.5	(p)37.6	(p)37.4
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series	Wages, 2022
	Hourly		Annual
	Median	Mean	Median	Mean
Airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers	(1)-$	(1)-$	$221,160	$232,640
Bus drivers, school
Railroad conductors and yardmasters	$32.68	$33.30	$67,970	$69,260
Sailors and marine oilers	$22.87	$26.08	$47,570	$54,240
Truck drivers, heavy and tractor-trailer	$24.85	$26.24	$51,680	$54,580
Footnotes (1) Wages for some occupations that do not generally work year-round, full time, are reported either as hourly wages or annual salaries depending on how they are typically paid.

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series	Wages, 2022
	Hourly		Annual
	Median	Mean	Median	Mean
Cashiers	$13.60	$13.83	$28,290	$28,760
Customer service representatives	$15.75	$16.52	$32,750	$34,370
First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers	$21.54	$23.84	$44,790	$49,590
Retail salespersons	$14.67	$16.60	$30,510	$34,520
Stock clerks and order fillers	$15.13	$15.75	$31,460	$32,750

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage 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		83		66
Defined benefit plans		40		35
Defined contribution plans		64		44

(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		8		22

(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		89
Paid vacation		90
Paid sick leave		86

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Employer Compensation Costs

Data series	Back data	3rd quarter 2022	4th quarter 2022	1st quarter 2023	2nd quarter 2023
Private industry
12-month percent change
Total compensation		3.5%	3.3%	3.1%	3.9%
Wages and salaries		3.7%	3.5%	3.6%	4.2%
3-month percent change
Total compensation		0.9%	0.9%	0.9%	1.2%
Wages and salaries		0.9%	1.1%	0.9%	1.2%

(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		45.08		100.0
Wages and salaries		29.84		66.2
Total benefits		15.25		33.8
Insurance		4.42		9.8
Retirement		2.53		5.6
Paid leave		3.17		7.0

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

Union Membership and Representation

Data series	Back data	Median weekly earnings
		2019	2020	2021	2022
Union membership and representation
Full-time workers		$840	$893	$914	$943
Members of unions		$1,103	$1,138	$1,147	$1,203
Represented by unions		$1,066	$1,117	$1,120	$1,178
Nonunion		$799	$849	$883	$909

(Source: Current Population Survey)

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 transportation and warehousing. 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	2018	2019	2020	2021
Fatalities
Number of fatalities	909	948	846	1,025
Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

Data series	2021
Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers
Total recordable cases	4.6
Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer	3.6
Cases involving days away from work	2.2
Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction	1.4
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	May 2023	Jun. 2023	Jul. 2023	Aug. 2023
Producer price index		(p)167.219	(p)167.964	(p)167.134	(p)167.174
Percent change from previous month		(p)-0.2%	(p)0.4%	(p)-0.5%	(p)0.0%
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Producer Price Indexes)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments and the number of establishments experiencing job gains or job losses in transportation and warehousing.

Establishments

Data series	Back data	2nd quarter 2022	3rd quarter 2022	4th quarter 2022	1st quarter 2023
Number of establishments
Private industry		308,919	314,130	317,843	(p)319,286
Local government		2,931	2,932	2,932	(p)2,935
State government		481	480	479	(p)473
Federal government		29,440	29,419	29,381	(p)29,432
Establishments with changes in employment (in thousands)
With job gains (seasonally adjusted)		65	68	68
With job losses (seasonally adjusted)		70	64	66
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Business Employment Dynamics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

 

Data extracted on: September 21, 2023