U.S. Transportation Sector Unemployment Rate at 4.0% in October, Above the National Rate
The U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported on November 6 that, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the unemployment rate in the U.S. transportation sector was 4.0% (not seasonally adjusted) in October 2026, higher than the overall unemployment rate. BLS reports that the U.S. unemployment rate, not seasonally adjusted, was 3.9% in October, 0.1 percentage points below the transportation rate; seasonally adjusted, the national rate was 4.1%.
BTS noted that a year-over-year change cannot be measured because data were not collected for October 2025, when BLS did not release household survey estimates. Transportation unemployment reached its highest level during the COVID-19 pandemic, at 15.7% in May and July 2020.
On employment, seasonally adjusted jobs in the transportation and warehousing sector rose to 6,636,100 in October 2026, up 0.4% from the previous month and up 0.3% from October 2025. By mode: air transportation rose to 574,000, up 0.6% both monthly and year over year; truck transportation was virtually unchanged at 1,471,300 from the previous month and down 0.1% from a year earlier; transit and ground passenger transportation rose to 497,600, up 0.2% monthly and 1.2% yearly; rail transportation fell to 149,600, down 0.1% monthly and 2.4% yearly; water transportation fell to 70,000, down 0.8% monthly and 1.1% yearly; pipeline transportation rose to 57,600, up 1.2% monthly and 1.4% yearly; and warehousing and storage was virtually unchanged at 1,839,200 both monthly and yearly.
BTS has updated the figures on its Unemployment in Transportation dashboard. The unemployment rate is the number of unemployed persons as a percentage of the civilian labor force aged 16 and older, and an unemployed person's industry is the industry of their last job.
(Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. Department of Transportation)
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于华盛顿的美国交通部总部大楼。Aude 摄，CC BY-SA 3.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The U.S. Department of Transportation headquarters in Washington, D.C. Photo by Aude, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
