Trucking Layoffs Rise in January

The trucking industry continues to lose workers, but it's cutting jobs at a lower rate than a year ago, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The number of mass layoffs in trucking increased from 24 in December to 37 in January, pushing up initial unemployment claims from former workers in the industry 40 percent to 2,887 in January, according to the BLS data.

Total employment in the trucking sector slipped 1.3 percent in January, according to provisional figures for that month from the Department of Labor agency.

The BLS defines a "mass layoff" as when a business has 50 or more initial claims for unemployment compensation filed against it within a 5-week period.

Over the past year, the number of extended mass layoffs in trucking -- cases in which workers were separated from their jobs for more than 31 days -- reported by the BLS dropped from 58 in the first quarter of 2009 to 35 in the fourth quarter.

The figures reflect both continuing payroll cuts made by trucking companies at the beginning of 2010 and an improvement from the worst of the recession in 2009.

YRC Worldwide, the largest trucking operator, cut 2,000 people since December, bringing its workforce down to about 34,000, Chairman William D. Zollars said at a Morgan Stanley investors conference in New York last week.

The company had 55,000 employees in December 2008, according to documents the company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission prior to the conference.

Contact William B. Cassidy at wcassidy@joc.com.