Transportation Economic Trends


Employment in Transportation:

Employment in Transportation Related Occupations by Industry

Employment in transportation and related industries and employment in transportation occupations are two ways to measure the Nation’s transportation workforce. This page looks at the two together; specifically, employment in transportation occupations by industry.
2020 Year-in-Review
  • In 2020 the transportation and warehousing sector employed the largest number of persons in transportation and related occupations (3.5 million) followed by the service sector (2.4 million).
Persons employed in transportation-related occupations work within both the transportation industry and in non-transportation industries. Non-transportation industries employ persons in transportation-related occupations, such as heavy tractor-trailer truck drivers, to carry out in-house transportation operations. Wages vary by the type of occupation, with similar wages paid across industries for the same occupation.
<<Back                                                                  
Back to All Topics
Recommended citation
U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Transportation Economic Trends, available at www.bts.gov/product/transportation-economic-trends.
  Learn More
Bureau of Transportation Statistics
The Bureau of Transportation Statistics, part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, is the preeminent source of statistics on commercial aviation, multimodal freight activity, and transportation economics, and provides context to decision makers and the public for understanding statistics on transportation.