{"id":56157,"date":"2020-12-25T13:44:19","date_gmt":"2020-12-25T18:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=56157"},"modified":"2020-12-25T13:44:19","modified_gmt":"2020-12-25T18:44:19","slug":"railroads-slashed-jobs-again-in-nov-to-lowest-in-many-decades-traffic-down-17-since-2006-stocks-soared-to-record-high","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=56157","title":{"rendered":"Railroads Slashed Jobs Again in Nov, to Lowest in Many Decades, Traffic Down 17% since 2006, Stocks Soared to Record High"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Railroads Slashed Jobs Again in Nov, to Lowest in Many Decades, Traffic Down 17% since 2006, Stocks Soared to Record High<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/header>\n
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Railroads responded to structural challenges by slashing jobs. Did nothing for volume but did everything for their stocks.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The North American Class 1 freight railroads \u2013 BNSF, Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern, CSX, Canadian National, Kansas City Southern, and Canadian Pacific \u2013 have been shedding employees since 2015, and in November they shed another 1.6% of their employees, from October, bringing the total down to 114,960 employees, according to data released by the\u00a0Surface Transportation Board<\/a>\u00a0(STB), an independent federal agency. It was the lowest headcount in many, many decades.<\/p>\n

November headcount was down by 13.7% from a year ago, down by 22% from the Great Recession\u00a0low<\/u>\u00a0at the end of 2009 (147,000), and down by 33.5% from the recent high in April 2015 (174,000):<\/p>\n

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Railroads submit employment data \u2013 along with a slew of other operating data \u2013 to the STB on a monthly basis. I have excluded Amtrak (the National Railroad Passenger Corporation) because it is not a freight railroad (it too cut headcount).<\/p>\n

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