U.S. Class I workforce was relatively stable in January

The U.S. Class Is in mid-January employed 162,286 people, down 0.3 percent from December's level but up about 0.2 percent compared with January 2013's count, according to Surface Transportation Board (STB) employment data.

On a month-over-month basis, only the professional and administrative sector posted a significant gain in January, rising 1.2 percent to 14,049. The maintenance of equipment and stores workforce was relatively flat at 29,765. The other four employment categories registered the following decreases: maintenance-of-way and structures, 1.1 percent to 36,008; executives, officials and staff assistants, 0.4 percent to 9,825; transportation (train and engine), 0.4 percent to 65,992; and transportation (other than train and engine), 0.1 percent to 6,647.

Compared with January 2013 totals, only the transportation (T&E) workforce posted growth last month, at 1.5 percent. The other five sectors registered the following declines: transportation (other than T&E), 2.1 percent; maintenance of equipment and stores, 1.4 percent; professional and administrative, 0.7 percent; executives, officials and staff assistants, 0.2 percent; and maintenance-of-way and structures, 0.1 percent.

STB data combining the six workforce sectors shows that as of mid-January, Union Pacific Railroad employed 48,591, BNSF Railway Co. employed 43,470, Norfolk Southern Railway employed 28,995, CSX Corp. employed 28,084, CN employed 6,465 (in the United States), Canadian Pacific/Soo Line employed 3,684 (in the United States) and Kansas City Southern employed 2,997.