Autonomous Trucks
The preliminary estimate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed a seasonally adjusted increase of 4,100 jobs in January. The upshot is that payroll employment in for-hire trucking in January was a record 1.615 million, seasonally adjusted. Although the not seasonally adjusted data is more volatile, the unadjusted January figure was 93,700 jobs ahead of February 2020. BLS data reflects only jobs covered by unemployment insurance, meaning the shift in independent owner-operators is a factor in the jobs numbers. On top of that, the economy produced 517,000 new jobs, seasonally adjusted, in January for the strongest gain since July.