Daily Archives: October 5, 2015

September marked the eighth consecutive month of job gains for the transportation sector. However, after a slight job increase in August, the truck transportation subsector lost jobs in September.

The transportation sector gained more than 3,000 jobs in September, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, the lowest monthly growth since January when the industry lost nearly 9,000 jobs.

The truck transportation subsector experienced a loss of 4,000 jobs after the industry gained 700 in August and nearly 3,000 in July. September is only the second month of 2015 in which the trucking industry lost jobs. Nearly 7,000 truck transportation jobs were lost in March.

Trucks experienced the largest job loss with transit and ground passenger transportation losing the second most with more than 1,000 jobs eliminated from the workforce. Couriers and messengers received the largest injection of jobs with an increase of 3,000.

Average hourly earnings for the transportation and warehousing sector were $22.86 for September, an 8-cent increase from August. Hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory employees decreased 4 cents to $20.64. Average hourly earnings for private, nonfarm payrolls across all industries were $25.09, unchanged from the previous month. Compared with a year ago, average earnings have gone up by 2.2 percent.

According to the report, the unemployment rate for transportation and material moving occupations is down to 5.8 percent from 6.8 percent last September. The overall unemployment rate for the country stayed stagnant at 5.1 percent. According to The Washington Post, the unemployment rate for August and September is the lowest since April 2008 and is considered to be “full employment.” The number of long-term unemployed saw little change compared with the previous month at 2.1 million. However, that number has decreased by 847,000 in the past 12 months.

Yet another motor carrier has petitioned for and successfully received an exemption from the mandatory 30-minute rest break requirement.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration granted a request from R&R Transportation Group to be exempt from provisions in the mandatory 30-minute rest break according to an Oct. 2 Federal Register notice, altering how the drivers will take and log the breaks.

The company filed an application for exemption from the rest break for drivers of its three motor carriers that haul security sensitive loads requiring constant attendance. The motor carriers – R&R Trucking, TNI USA and NEI Transport – haul a wide variety of security-sensitive materials ranging from weapons and ammunition to night-vision goggles, pharmaceuticals and radioactive material.

These types of loads require under the regs that the drivers keep the truck and cargo under constant observation to prevent theft or an “adverse security incident.” Drivers are then put in a Catch-22 of violating a regulation: Keep the load under observation while on-duty or take a mandatory 30-minute rest break.

The exemption allows drivers under certain loads requiring constant attendance to take their 30-minute rest break while attending the load.

FMCSA has previously granted temporary, generally two-year, exemptions from the 30-minute rest breaks for motor carriers with drivers in similar situations. In fact, both the Department of Defense and Department of Energy have secured exemptions from the rest break for drivers hauling various security-sensitive loads for the agencies.

R&R’s exemption is similar to one granted to concrete haulers who are allowed to take their 30-minute rest break while waiting in que to unload concrete.

The FMCSA followed suit in the Oct. 2 Federal Register notice granting drivers of the R&R Transportation Group the same exemption. Drivers who have loads with mandatory constant observation requirements will be able to forgo the mandatory rest break. R&R drivers who have regular interstate freight that does not require constant observation will still be required to take the 30-minute rest break.

The exemption is good for two years.