Labor/Employment

Your morning transportation speed-read:

Transportation employment decreased by 2,800 jobs in February, even as the overall U.S. unemployment rate ticked down to 7.6 percent.

Statistics released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed the national unemployment rate decreased from 7.7 percent in January to 7.6 percent in March after an increase of 88,000 jobs in the month.

The numbers were well below estimates, and analysts attributed the decreased unemployment rate to the fact that 496,000 people left the labor force over the month of March.

In transportation, the BLS report showed employment in the transportation sector decreased from 4,469,900 in February to 4,467,100 last month. 

Your morning transportation speed-read: 

Transportation employment decreased by 1,300 jobs in February, even as the overall U.S. unemployment rate ticked down.

Statistics released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed the national unemployment rate decreased from 7.9 percent in January to 7.7 percent in February after an increase of 236,000 jobs in the month.

The BLS report showed employment in the transportation sector decreased from 4,473,400 in January to 4,472,100 last month.

The unions for Transportation Security Administration (TSA) airport security screeners and Amtrak concession workers have joined the AFL-CIO's Transportation Trades Department, the labor groups said Thursday.

The TTD, which bills itself as the largest coalition of transportation unions, said the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and UNITE HERE unions would become its 32nd and 33rd members.

The AFGE, which represents TSA workers, is joining the TTD for the first time. UNITE HERE, the Amtrak concession workers union, is rejoining the coalition.  

U.S. imports are predicted to increased 8.5 percent over 2012 production after dockworkers and managers at East and Gulf Coast ports reached an agreement to avert a strike, the National Retail Federation (NRF) said Friday.

The forecast comes amid labor unrest at ports in South California that have already resulted in one work stoppage.

The Washington, D.C.-based NRF is predicting that 1.18 million containers, which hold the equivalent of twenty feet of material, will be brought into to the U.S. through ports in February. The group estimated that 1.34 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEU) were processed in January, which would be a 4.6 percent increase.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) sharply criticized the unions representing dockworkers at West Coast ports for voting against a proposed agreement on a new labor contract.

Sixteen Southern California affiliates of the AFL-CIO-affiliated International Longshoremen and Warehouse Union (ILWU) voted against the terms of a deal that was negotiated with the Los Angeles/Long Beach Harbor Employers Association with the help of federal mediators this week.

The NRF said Friday that it was "extremely disappointed by this vote" and urged the two sides to get back to the negotiating table quickly.

"Ratification of a contract is needed to give retailers and other industries that rely on these ports the predictability they need to make long-term plans and get back to growing their businesses and creating jobs," NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said in a statement. 

Rep. Janice Hahn (D-Calif.) said it was important to protect "very good paying jobs" on docks across the country.

Business leaders said a strike could have crippled the U.S. economy.

Transportation employment decreased by 14,200 jobs in January as the U.S. unemployment rate ticked up slightly.

Statistics released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed the national unemployment rate rose from 7.8 percent in December to 7.9 in January, despite an increase of 157,000 jobs in the month.

The BLS report showed employment in the transportation sector decreased from 4,501,500 in December to 4,487,300 last month.