Transport job postings jump in August

Online postings for transportation jobs tracked by a job aggregation firm rose in August by 119 percent, the biggest year-over-year increase of any of the 12 industries the firm tracks. According to Indeed.com, that was nearly double the growth rate for the information technology sector, which was the next fastest-growing industry for postings with a year-over-year increase of 61 percent.

According to the search firm, there were 118,609 transport-related job postings in August. That number pales next to the 819,423 postings that month for health care, 408,370 postings for retailing, and 361,002 postings for the IT sector. Indeed.com says, however, that the increase in transport job postings—13 percent per month so far through August—is a positive sign for future hiring activity and bodes well for the economy as a whole as transport activity is usually a leading indicator of the broader economic outlook.

Company officials attribute the huge percentage gains in transportation postings to the fact that industry activity was at such a low ebb throughout most of 2009.

The five most abundant transport job postings were in "materials management," "transportation management," "delivery drivers," "CDL drivers," and "warehouse workers' jobs," according to Indeed.com.

Based in Stamford, Conn., Indeed.com searches company websites and online hiring services like Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com and aggregates job postings that fall within the 12 industries it tracks. When a job seeker clicks on one of the jobs, he or she is taken to the website where the job was listed.

One notable exception to Indeed.com's search universe is the popular site Craigslist. That site's job postings are not included on Indeed.com.