Trucking Adds Jobs as Unemployment Falls to Three-Year Low 8.1%

The April unemployment rate fell to a three-year low 8.1% and the trucking industry gained 1,800 jobs, the Labor Department said Friday.

The U.S. economy added 115,000 jobs, the fewest in six months, following a revised 154,000 gain in March that was larger than previously reported, Labor said.

Jobs in the transportation and warehousing sector, of which trucking is a part, fell by 16,600 jobs, led by a 11,000-job decrease in transit and ground passenger transportation and a 7,400 payrolls drop for couriers and messengers.

Economists had projected the unemployment rate would hold at March’s 8.2% level, while the jobs gain was short of the 160,000 forecast, Bloomberg reported.

The payroll and unemployment figures are obtained by separate surveys, with payrolls from a survey of employers and the unemployment rate from a survey of households.