Career Trends: Taxi Drivers, Ride-Hailing Drivers, and Chauffeurs

Taxi drivers and chauffeurs drive people to and from the places they need to go, such as airports, homes, shopping centers, and workplaces. They must know their way around a city to take passengers to their destinations.

About 1 in 5 taxi drivers and chauffeurs worked part time in 2014. Evening and weekend work is common.

Most taxi drivers and chauffeurs go through a brief training period. Many states and local municipalities require them to get a taxi or limousine license. Although a high school diploma is not required, many taxi drivers and chauffeurs have one.

Employment of taxi drivers and chauffeurs is projected to grow 13 percent from 2014 to 2024, faster than the average for all occupations. An increase in ride-hailing services, that utilize electronic hailing through smartphone apps, should contribute to employment growth.

This occupation supported 233,000 jobs in 2012 and 233,700 jobs in 2014, reflecting an increase of 0.3%. In 2012, this occupation was projected to increase by 15.5% in 2022 to 269,100 jobs. As of 2014, to keep pace with prediction, the expected number of jobs was 240,200, compared with an observed value of 233,700, 2.7% lower than expected. This indicates current employment trends are worse than the 2012 trend within this occupation. In 2014, this occupation was projected to increase by 13.2% in 2024 to 264,400 jobs. Linear extrapolation of the 2012 projection for 2022 results in an expected number of 276,300 jobs for 2024, 4.5% higher than the 2014 projection for 2024. This indicates expectations for future employment trends are worse than the 2012 trend within this occupation.