Transportation unemployment rises in January

Transportation unemployment

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that the transportation unemployment rate in the U.S. was 4.4% in January 2026 according. The transportation sector unemployment rate rose 0.8 percentage points from 3.6% in January 2025. The numbers are not seasonally adjusted.

These numbers are now updated at the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) website.

BLS adds that transportation sector unemployment was its highest during the COVID-19 pandemic (15.7%) in May 2020 and July 2020.

However, unemployment in the transportation sector was lower than overall unemployment. BLS reports that the U.S. unemployment rate, not seasonally adjusted, in January 2026 was 4.6%. Seasonally adjusted, the U.S. unemployment rate in January 2026 was 4.3%.

When seasonally adjusted, employment in the transportation and warehousing sector was own 0.2% from December to 6,548,000. This is also down 1.8% from January 2025.

Mode segments important to this audience and seasonally adjusted:

• Truck transportation fell to 1,462,600 in January 2026 — down 0.3% from the previous month and down 2.0% from January 2025.
• Transit and ground passenger transportation fell to 494,100 in January 2026 — down 0.4% from the previous month but up 1.1% from January 2025.

For more, go to the BTS Transportation Economic Trends site here.

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