The headlines reported employment fell by 43,000 jobs in September from August. But beneath the headlines, the report is mildly positive for truck freight, truck sales and continued economic recovery, according to Jim Haughey, Newport Communication's senior economist. And that's even with September's employment falling by 17,000 jobs, or 1%, in the trucking and warehousing industries.

Employment increased from the initial August total, the unemployment rate fell again, the household labor survey reported a whopping jump in jobs, average hours recovered after a drop in July and August and hourly wages were sharply higher.
The August job gain for the whole economy was revised up from 39,000 to 107,000. So employment in September was 12,000 higher than first reported for August. This is based on a sample survey of employers. More important, the parallel household survey reported a huge 711,000 job gain, dropping the unemployment rate 0.1% to 5.6%. Consumers also reported 399,000 more jobs in August.
Take your pick, said Haughey. In the last two months employment rose 64,000 in the survey of employers -- or 1,110,000 in the survey of households. The two surveys often diverge temporarily. The household survey usually picks up changing trends first with the employer survey eventually revised to match it.
The employer survey reported a loss of 42,000 jobs in durable manufacturing. The losses totaled 30,000 in machinery, electronics and transportation equipment. The stalled recovery that began in June in durable manufacturing extended into September and will probably extend through October. This job loss does not imply a drop in production and freight, Haughey said. It is simply the result of no change in production with continued labor productivity gains at the recent 5-6% annual rate.
Employment in non-durable manufacturing rose 7,000 jobs. Adding in small productivity gains yields a marginal rise in output and freight.
Payrolls, the key component of personal income, got a healthy boost in September. The workweek increased 0.3% the hourly wage of private non-supervisory employees soared 1.6%. This will keep consumer spending steady.