The wheels on the bus go ‘round and ‘round: school and employee bus transportation

Beep! Beep! With schools back in session, let’s check out the driving forces behind employment trends in the school and employee bus transportation industry. Each June and July, employment layoffs in school and employee bus transportation occur as the school year comes to an end. Employment trends in August can vary between years, but a large employment buildup often follows in September, as school resumes and most employees are typically back on payrolls. For instance, before seasonal adjustment, school and employee bus transportation had employment layoffs of 22,000 in June 2024 and 52,000 in July 2024 but an employment buildup of 83,000 in September 2024. In 2025, school and employee bus transportation employment layoffs were 25,000 in June and 55,000 in July.

After seasonal adjustment, employment in school and employee bus transportation has trended up since a loss of nearly 100,000 jobs following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Seasonal adjustment smooths out increases or decreases that occur around the same time each year, making it easier to see the underlying trends and other nonseasonal movements. As of September 2024, the industry had recovered the jobs lost during the pandemic. Seasonally adjusted employment was 219,000 in July 2025 compared with 201,000 in July 2024. Prior to the pandemic, in February 2020, employment was 207,000.

These data are from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program and data for July 2025 are preliminary. We also have more charts of national employment, hours, and earnings data.