U.S. Class Is' employment rolls expanded in May

U.S. Class Is widened their combined workforce last month. As of mid-May, they employed 166,097 people, a 1.1 percent increase compared with workforce levels both in mid-April and May 2013, according to Surface Transportation Board data.

All six workforce segments grew on a month-over-month basis: maintenance-of-way and structures, by 2.2 percent to 37,799; professional and administrative staff, by 1 percent to 14,098; transportation (train and engine), by 0.8 percent to 67,508; maintenance of equipment and stores, by 0.7 percent to 30,066; executives, officials and staff assistants, by 0.6 percent to 9,864; and transportation (other than train and engine), by 0.6 percent to 6,762.

On a year-over-year basis, three workforce sectors registered gains and three posted declines. The number of transportation (T&E) employees grew 2.4 percent, number of executives, officials and staff assistants rose 1.2 percent, and number of maintenance-of-way and structures workers increased 0.7 percent. Professional and administrative staff decreased by 0.4 percent, the size of the maintenance of equipment and stores workforce shrunk by 0.2 percent, and the number of transportation (other than T&E) employees dipped by less than a tenth of 1 percent.