Figure 1. Total Transportation Employment (thousands), January 1990 - July 2010

Excel | CSV | Table Version

Source: U.S. Department of Transportation, Research and Innovative Technology Administration, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, http://www.bts.gov/publications/key_transportation_indicators/.

Figure 1 provides a graph of U.S. employment in the transportation industry from January 1990 through July 2010. These data, taken from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Current Employment Survey,¹ are reported on the BTS key transportation indicators webpage.² The inserted graph within Figure 1 provides a subset of 2005 monthly transportation employment (2005 was chosen as a recent year not impacted by the impending recession and subsequent downturn in transportation employment). Seasonal fluctuations in the insert indicate two peaks within a single year.

¹ Each month the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program surveys about 140,000 businesses and government agencies, representing approximately 410,000 individual worksites, in order to provide detailed industry data on employment, hours, and earnings of workers on nonfarm payrolls. See http://www.bls.gov/ces/ for more information.

² http://www.bts.gov/publications/key_transportation_indicators/