The truck transportation and warehousing industry provided 1.9 million wage and salary jobs in 2002. About 44 percent of the salaried jobs in the industry, or 810,000, were for truck drivers. Other transportation and material moving jobs numbered 417,000 and another 327,000 jobs were in various office and administrative support occupations. There were about 92,000 in management, business, and financial occupations; 55,000 vehicle and mobile equipment mechanics, installers, and repairers; and 43,000 sales and related workers. In addition to wage and salary workers, an estimated 255,000 workers in the industry were self-employed in 2002.
Most employees in the truck transportation and warehousing industry work in small establishments. Over 85 percent of trucking and warehousing establishments employ fewer than 20 workers. Consolidation in the industry has reduced the number of small, specialized firms. About 10 percent of truck drivers and driver/sales workers operate their own business. Although these owner-operators constantly enter the industry each year, intense competition has caused many to fail.
Trucking and warehousing establishments are found throughout the United States, with a higher concentration around the major interstate highways and in heavily industrialized regions of the country such as in California, New Jersey, and Texas.