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	Dec. 2024	Jan. 2025	Feb. 2025	Mar. 2025
Employment (in thousands)
Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)		6,723.2	6,744.5	(p)6,760.7	(p)6,783.6
Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees (seasonally adjusted)		5,913.8	5,920.1	(p)5,949.8	(p)5,949.7
Unemployment
Unemployment rate		4.3%	3.6%	4.7%	4.6%
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Current Population Survey

Union Membership and Representation

Data series	Back data	2021	2022	2023	2024
Union membership and representation
Members of unions (percent of wage and salary workers)		14.7%	14.5%	15.9%	15.8%
Represented by unions (percent of wage and salary workers)		16.1%	15.5%	17.0%	16.9%

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Dynamic Changes in Employment

Data series	Back data	3rd quarter 2023	4th quarter 2023	1st quarter 2024	2nd quarter 2024
Dynamic changes in employment (in thousands)
Gross job gains		345	504	272	294
Gross job losses		344	292	452	338

(Source: Business Employment Dynamics)

Employment by Occupation

Data series	Employment, 2024
Airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers	93,290
Bus drivers, school
Railroad conductors and yardmasters	38,470
Sailors and marine oilers	22,880
Truck drivers, heavy and tractor-trailer	1,183,530

(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	Dec. 2024	Jan. 2025	Feb. 2025	Mar. 2025
Average hourly earnings		$30.99	$31.07	(p)$31.09	(p)$31.19
Average weekly hours		38.2	38.1	(p)38.1	(p)38.3
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees

Data series	Back data	Dec. 2024	Jan. 2025	Feb. 2025	Mar. 2025
Average hourly earnings		$29.42	$29.58	(p)$29.57	(p)$29.73
Average weekly hours		37.8	37.7	(p)37.8	(p)37.8
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series	Wages, 2024
	Hourly		Annual
	Median	Mean	Median	Mean
Airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers	(1)-$	(1)-$	(2)-$	$290,560
Bus drivers, school
Railroad conductors and yardmasters	$34.58	$36.43	$71,930	$75,780
Sailors and marine oilers	$24.07	$26.97	$50,060	$56,100
Truck drivers, heavy and tractor-trailer	$28.46	$29.00	$59,200	$60,320
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. (2) This wage is equal to or greater than $115.00 per hour or $239,200 per year.

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series	Wages, 2024
	Hourly		Annual
	Median	Mean	Median	Mean
Cashiers	$15.00	$15.31	$31,200	$31,840
Customer service representatives	$17.49	$18.36	$36,390	$38,190
First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers	$22.62	$24.89	$47,050	$51,780
Retail salespersons	$16.61	$17.80	$34,550	$37,020
Stock clerks and order fillers	$17.27	$17.50	$35,910	$36,400

(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	2024	Back data	2024
Private industry
Retirement benefit plans		83		57
Defined benefit plans		41		30
Defined contribution plans		63		37

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Data series	After 1 year of service		After 20 years of service
	Back data	2024	Back data	2024
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	2024
Percent of private industry workers with access to employer-sponsored benefits
Health care		91
Paid vacation		92
Paid sick leave		88

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Employer Compensation Costs

Data series	Back data	1st quarter 2024	2nd quarter 2024	3rd quarter 2024	4th quarter 2024
Private industry
12-month percent change
Total compensation		7.2%	7.7%	7.7%	4.6%
Wages and salaries		8.3%	8.3%	8.4%	4.7%
3-month percent change
Total compensation		1.8%	1.7%	0.8%	0.3%
Wages and salaries		2.1%	1.2%	1.0%	0.3%

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

Data series	Private industry
	Compensation component ($ per hour worked)		Percent of total compensation
	Back data	4th quarter 2024	Back data	4th quarter 2024
Total compensation		47.70		100.0
Wages and salaries		32.71		68.6
Total benefits		14.99		31.4
Insurance		4.07		8.5
Retirement		2.23		4.7
Paid leave		3.24		6.8

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

Union Membership and Representation

Data series	Back data	Median weekly earnings
		2021	2022	2023	2024
Union membership and representation
Full-time workers		$914	$943	$993	$1,040
Members of unions		$1,147	$1,203	$1,262	$1,254
Represented by unions		$1,120	$1,178	$1,231	$1,234
Nonunion		$883	$909	$966	$1,011

(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	2020	2021	2022	2023
Fatalities
Number of fatalities				971
There was a series break beginning with 2023 data due to NAICS 2022. Data for years prior to 2023 are available at www.bls.gov/iif.

Data series	2023
Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers
Total recordable cases	4.5
Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer	3.6
Cases involving days away from work	2.1
Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction	1.5
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	Dec. 2024	Jan. 2025	Feb. 2025	Mar. 2025
Producer price index		(p)171.836	(p)174.632	(p)173.971	(p)173.822
Percent change from previous month		(p)2.6%	(p)1.6%	(p)-0.4%	(p)-0.1%
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	4th quarter 2023	1st quarter 2024	2nd quarter 2024	3rd quarter 2024
Number of establishments
Private industry		325,476	(p)325,733	(p)326,504	(p)327,821
Local government		2,947	(p)2,948	(p)2,951	(p)2,956
State government		468	(p)462	(p)462	(p)467
Federal government		29,868	(p)29,945	(p)29,893	(p)29,857
Establishments with changes in employment (in thousands)
With job gains (seasonally adjusted)		68	61	59
With job losses (seasonally adjusted)		66	67	70
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Business Employment Dynamics, 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	2020	2021	2022	2023
Total factor productivity (TFP)		-4.7	2.8	-2.6	1.7
Output		-11.1	8.5	5.3	1.2
Combined inputs		-6.8	5.6	8.0	-0.5
Capital input		1.8	0.8	1.4	2.0
Labor input		-2.4	9.8	7.3	-0.9
Labor productivity, output per hour		-8.5	-2.1	-1.6	2.3

(Source: Productivity)

 

Data extracted on: April 24, 2025