Just five years ago, the trucking and warehousing industry produced nearly $1.7 billion in regional output and created more than 17,000 jobs in the midstate alone. However, the recession considerably curtailed both output and labor as trucking companies downsized to reflect the diminished demand primarily in manufacturing. During the Great Recession, more than 170,000 trucks were taken off U.S. highways.

For our region — and many across the U.S. — the number of trucks on the road is a direct indicator of how healthy an economy is based on the very simple notion that if manufacturing and importing and exporting are full-steam ahead, there will be trucks plying the roadways. That might be overly simplistic, but considering that today one out of every 11 Pennsylvanian workers are employed in the trucking industry and more than a million tons of freight move through the midstate each day, the industry has a profound effect on other key indicator industries such as real estate, retail and energy, and this economy.

The good news is this critical industry is on the rebound. As Jim Ryan reports (see "Highway demand," page 1), midstate trucking firms are adding workers, runs and fleets at a healthy clip. Daily Express Inc. in Middlesex Township plans to expand from 290 trucks to 325 or more this year; J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. is building a 240-truck terminal and adding workers in Swatara Township, and Paul Miller Trucking Inc. in Spring Grove plans to grow its fleet from 65 trucks to 100.

This is positive growth in an economic climate still reeling from the effects of the Great Recession in which 15 percent or more shrinkage was the norm at trucking firms and U.S. manufacturing was severely hampered.

Private sector employment grew by 257,000 and manufacturing added 50,000 jobs, according to January numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Add to this the continued increase in jobs from the Marcellus Shale, and the midstate transportation industry will continue to increase.

That's good news for Central Pennsylvania and another strong indicator that we'll see a strong economic surge in 2012.