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The U.S. Class Is’ hiring binge cooled a bit in October, but their total workforce continues to be a tad larger than last year’s. As of mid-October, the Class Is employed a total of 167,642 workers, a 0.3 percent decrease compared with September and 2.8 percent increase compared with October 2005, according to Surface Transportation Board data.

Executives, officials and staff assistants posted the largest month-over-month increase, rising 0.4 percent to 10,066 compared with mid-September’s total. The workforce segment also increased 6.2 percent compared with October 2005 data.

Maintenance of equipment and stores workers, and professional and administrative staff also registered gains, increasing 0.1 percent to 30,120 and 0.06 percent to 13,696, respectively, compared with mid-September totals.

However, transportation (other than train and engine service) staff totaling 7,231 fell 0.7 percent compared with mid-September and 1.8 percent compared with October 2005. In addition, as of mid-October, maintenance of way and structures’ ranks dropped 0.6 percent to 35,483 and transportation (T&E) ranks declined 0.4 percent to 71,046 on a month-over-month basis.