School bus driver employment has not recovered to pre-pandemic levels: State and local government and private-sector school bus driver employment in elementary and secondary schools, 2019–2025

 

Date Total school bus driver employment Private-sector school bus driver employment S&L school bus driver employment
2019-01-01 227,327   39,090   185,798 
2019-02-01 228,503   39,658   186,013 
2019-03-01 228,412   39,719   186,122 
2019-04-01 228,660   41,187   185,266 
2019-05-01 229,148   43,206   183,771 
2019-06-01 228,195   45,573   180,451 
2019-07-01 224,532   45,555   176,806 
2019-08-01 223,252   44,460   176,621 
2019-09-01 226,687   43,328   181,224 
2019-10-01 229,114   42,760   184,404 
2019-11-01 231,854   42,808   187,119 
2019-12-01 233,491   42,126   189,469 
2020-01-01 232,416   42,118   188,403 
2020-02-01 225,707   39,756   184,594 
2020-03-01 217,820   39,226   177,499 
2020-04-01 203,194   36,512   165,888 
2020-05-01 192,297   34,342   157,142 
2020-06-01 190,419   34,172   155,213 
2020-07-01 185,737   33,493   150,942 
2020-08-01 180,835   32,563   146,750 
2020-09-01 174,182   33,439   139,351 
2020-10-01 165,390   33,083   131,048 
2020-11-01 157,190   30,575   125,490 
2020-12-01 154,723   30,047   123,686 
2021-01-01 153,039   29,713   122,336 
2021-02-01 158,489   30,743   126,491 
2021-03-01 166,367   31,360   133,753 
2021-04-01 177,064   31,801   144,008 
2021-05-01 189,497   32,041   156,484 
2021-06-01 195,468   31,214   163,502 
2021-07-01 203,375   31,253   171,500 
2021-08-01 212,452   32,626   179,315 
2021-09-01 216,118   32,540   183,066 
2021-10-01 219,744   32,773   186,370 
2021-11-01 224,169   35,277   188,291 
2021-12-01 227,333   36,510   190,222 
2022-01-01 231,491   37,028   193,862 
2022-02-01 230,290   37,744   192,209 
2022-03-01 227,841   37,430   190,074 
2022-04-01 224,639   38,841   185,462 
2022-05-01 219,328   39,098   179,893 
2022-06-01 214,029   38,654   175,038 
2022-07-01 208,450   37,581   170,670 
2022-08-01 203,472   36,042   167,341 
2022-09-01 200,720   34,205   166,426 
2022-10-01 199,434   33,988   165,446 
2022-11-01 198,697   32,622   166,008 
2022-12-01 196,906   32,212   164,627 
2023-01-01 197,683   31,227   166,389 
2023-02-01 199,643   31,350   168,226 
2023-03-01 198,746   31,299   166,942 
2023-04-01 196,132   29,849   165,778 
2023-05-01 194,486   28,492   165,176 
2023-06-01 195,320   28,838   165,358 
2023-07-01 192,345   29,221   161,660 
2023-08-01 189,966   30,686   157,647 
2023-09-01 192,367   34,014   156,573 
2023-10-01 194,580   36,626   156,011 
2023-11-01 197,866   39,167   156,822 
2023-12-01 195,932   38,594   155,390 
2024-01-01 190,953   38,916   150,013 
2024-02-01 188,826   37,937   148,785 
2024-03-01 191,080   37,800   151,517 
2024-04-01 195,682   39,183   154,024 
2024-05-01 196,668   40,246   154,261 
2024-06-01 196,088   39,708   154,524 
2024-07-01 197,407   39,389   156,503 
2024-08-01 199,793   39,910   158,537 
2024-09-01 199,060   38,050   159,811 
2024-10-01 198,865   33,902   163,928 
2024-11-01 196,489   30,024   165,429 
2024-12-01 195,069   28,432   165,548 
2025-01-01 196,287   28,586   166,208 
2025-02-01 195,107   29,683   163,510 
2025-03-01 193,439   30,238   160,902 
2025-04-01 194,131   30,953   161,526 
2025-05-01 197,852   30,514   165,686 
2025-06-01 200,819   32,203   166,963 
2025-07-01 202,196   33,132   167,412 
2025-08-01 202,076   31,668   168,429 
Economic Policy Institute

Notes: 12-month rolling averages of monthly CPS employment data. Total employment includes federal government workers as well as private-sector and state and local government workers. Does not include school bus drivers who are self-employed or unpaid family workers. Does not include school bus drivers employed in other industries. Shaded areas denote recessions.

Source: Author’s analysis of Current Population Survey (CPS) data accessed via the EPI Current Population Survey Extracts, https://microdata.epi.org.

View the underlying data on epi.org.