In the recent Bureau of Labor Statistics survey of Job Openings & Labor Turnover, it was reported that employers had 6.16 million jobs unfilled, a record for the index.
A significant number of new job openings are in the logistics industry. Jennifer Smith writes at the Wall Street Journal that expansion in the e-commerce industry is driving a surge in hiring at package-delivery and transportation firms.
U.S. employers overall added 209,000 jobs in July, driven largely by service-sector growth. Health-care employers added 39,400 jobs, while food services and drinking places gained 53,100.
Manufacturing payrolls grew by 16,000 last month, when U.S. factory activity expandedfor the 11th consecutive month, according to the Institute for Supply Management.
Trucking companies, whose business is closely tied to industrial demand, added 400 jobs in July as some carriers said they planned to boost their hiring this quarter.
Truckload carrier Schneider National Inc. SNDR -0.71% plans to add 300 driver jobs, the company said in an earnings call this month. Adam Satterfield, chief financial officer atOld Dominion Freight Line Inc., ODFL -0.44% said in an earnings call last week that the carrier—which handles goods for multiple customers on each of its trucks—expects to add “a couple of hundred employees” this quarter after increasing payrolls by 1% in the second quarter even as shipments rose more than 5%.
Logistics industry employers are already ramping up hiring in advance of the holiday season. Amazon held job fairs at sites around the country on Wednesday aimed at filling 50,000 new positions, mostly at the e-commerce giant’s fulfillment and package-sorting centers.
“Demand is higher now than it was even in the peak season,” said Brian Devine, senior vice president at ProLogistix, one of the largest logistics-staffing companies in the U.S.
Recruitment is especially challenging in transportation hubs such as Memphis, Indianapolis and Southern California’s Inland Empire, he said. “Companies are giving significant wage-rate increases now. They’re adjusting pay to match the competitiveness of the market,” Mr. Devine said.
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