The surge last month gave the transportation and warehousing sector 73,000 new jobs since the beginning of 2018, the strongest annual hiring pace for logistics-focused payrolls since 2015. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report released last week showed warehousing and trucking fleets both boosted hiring by 6,600 jobs from April to May while parcel-carrying courier companies added 4,800 new workers.

The growth came as the broader U.S. economy added 223,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate ticked down to 3.8 percent, the lowest level since 2000 and the latest sign that economic growth is picking up steam and pushing more goods through distribution networks.

“We are probably going through one of our largest hiring sprees as a company that we’ve seen in a long time,” said Daniel Sayne, director of sales for Fidelitone Inc., which handles deliveries of heavy goods for Amazon.com Inc., Wayfair Inc. and other e-commerce companies. Heading toward the summer, grills, patio furniture and sporting goods are among the consumer products in high demand, he said.

Sayne said Fidelitone has expanded its operation significantly in the last year as more online retailers worked out how to sell larger items through online channels. “Retailers and e-commerce companies have invested money in their supply chains to be able to offer those types of services,” he said. “A few years ago you couldn’t go on most of these furniture companies’ websites and buy something, they didn’t offer that.”

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