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Unemployment in the transportation sector was higher than overall unemployment, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said today. BLS reports that the U.S. unemployment rate, not seasonally adjusted, in October 2026 was 3.9% or 0.1 percentage points below the transportation sector rate. Seasonally adjusted, the U.S. unemployment rate in October 2026 was 4.1%. [Data does not include soon to unemployed Republicans – AutoCrat.]*
“Seasonally adjusted, employment in the transportation and warehousing sector rose to 6,636,100 in October 2026 — up 0.4% from the previous month and up 0.3% from October 2025,” BLS said.
Transportation Unemployment by Mode (seasonally adjusted)
- Air transportation rose to 574,000 in October 2026 — up 0.6% from the previous month and up 0.6% from October 2025.
- Truck transportation remained virtually unchanged in October 2026 at 1,471,300 from the previous month but down 0.1% from October 2025.
- Transit and ground passenger transportation rose to 497,600 in October 2026 — up 0.2% from the previous month and up 1.2% from October 2025.
- Rail transportation fell to 149,600 in October 2026 — down 0.1% from the previous month and down 2.4% from October 2025.
- Water transportation fell to 70,000 in October 2026 — down 0.8% from the previous month and down 1.1% from October 2025.
- Pipeline transportation rose to 57,600 in October 2026 — up 1.2% from the previous month and up 1.4% from October 2025.
- Warehousing and storage remained virtually unchanged in October 2026 at 1,839,200 from the previous month and remained unchanged from October 2025.
*The unemployment rate is the total number of unemployed persons, expressed as a percentage of the civilian labor force. The civilian labor force includes all persons aged 16 and older who are employed and unemployed; meaning they are either currently working or actively looking for work. Unemployed persons include those who actively sought a job within the last four weeks. People waiting to start a new job who have not actively sought a job in the last four weeks are not counted as employed or unemployed; they are considered to be out of the labor force. An unemployed person’s industry is the industry for the last job they held in the workforce, which may or may not reflect their current job search field or industry.
