USA Banner

Official US Government Icon

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure Site Icon

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

U.S. Department of Transportation U.S. Department of Transportation Icon United States Department of Transportation United States Department of Transportation

Freight Transportation Services Index and the Economic Growth Cycle: January 1979–June 2024

Figure

This line graph shows the relationship between the Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI) and the national economy. The freight TSI indicated an economic slowdown in August 2019. The slowdown deepened in early 2020 when the economy entered a recession, reaching a low in April 2020 and then entering a period of economic growth. The detrended and smoothed TSI began a downward trend following May 2022.

Dataset Excel:

F4_04_TSI_freight_detrended.xlsx (74.29 KB)

Notes:

Shaded areas indicate decelerations in the economy, and areas between are accelerations in the economy (growth cycles). The endpoint for deceleration began in December 2014 has not been determined. Detrending and smoothing refer to statistical procedures that make it easier to observe changes in upturns and downturns of the data. Detrending removes the long-term growth trend and smoothing removes month-to-month volatility.

Description:

This line graph is from the 2024 Transportation Statistics Annual Report.

Source:

U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Transportation Services Index, available at https://data.bts.gov/stories/s/9czv-tjte as of September 2024.
 

Previous Editions:
Freight TSI and the Economic Growth Cycle Jan 1979-Jun 2023
Publications: