Employment
The truck transportation and warehousing industry provided 1.9 million wage and salary jobs in 2004. About 45 percent of the salaried jobs in the industry, 857,000, were for truck drivers. Other transportation and material moving jobs accounted for 24 percent of industry employment, while various office and administrative support occupations employed another 17 percent. Management, business, and financial occupations held 4 percent of all jobs in the industry; vehicle and mobile equipment mechanics, installers, and repairers 3 percent; and sales and related workers 2 percent. In addition to the wage and salary workers, there were an estimated 282,000 self-employed and unpaid family workers in the industry.
Most employees in the truck transportation and warehousing industry work in small establishments. About 86 percent of trucking and warehousing establishments employ fewer than 20 workers (chart 1). Consolidation in the industry has reduced the number of small, specialized firms.
Trucking and warehousing establishments are found throughout the United States, with a higher concentration around the major interstate highways and in heavily industrialized regions of the country, such as California, New Jersey, and Texas.