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The U.S. unemployment rate held at 9.5% in July as total payrolls fell, and the trucking industry’s payrolls jumped by almost 6,000, the Labor Department said Friday.

Congress has passed a short-term extension of the Federal Aviation Administration’s authorization, delaying until after the August recess further debate over a labor provision that has UPS Inc. and FedEx Corp. feuding.

The continuing delay in passing a new long-term highway bill has trucking executives and transportation officials worried about the effects on the U.S. freight network, according to David Abney, chief operating officer of UPS Inc.

New legislation aimed at giving ports more authority to set environmental regulations is expanding the battle over the Port of Los Angeles’ controversial employees-only clean trucks plan from the courts to Congress.

Three trucking companies are suing Caterpillar Inc. over the sale of what their legal counsel says are “defective” 13- and 15- liter diesel engines for heavy-duty trucks. The Texas law firm representing the companies now is looking for fleets to join the litigation.

The U.S. diesel average price rose 0.9 cent to $2.928 a gallon last week, the second straight gain, but just the third increase in the past 12 weeks, the Department of Energy reported Aug. 2.

Fourteen months into his job as CEO of Daimler Trucks North America, Martin Daum said the truck sales market is still bad — although it is improving — but his real challenge is trying to figure out when sales will return to a robust pace.

While the trucking industry waits for the Obama administration to complete its review of a new hours-of-service proposal, executives with some of the nation’s largest fleets warned that a cut in driving time would result in higher consumer costs, reduced efficiency and increased pollution.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood encouraged the nation’s safest truck drivers to play an active role in combating distracted driving. “Distracted driving is an epidemic in America,” LaHood said in a speech Aug. 5 during the National Truck Driving Championships.

Second-quarter earnings reports from the less-than-truckload sector show a tepid recovery compared with truckload companies, although executives said tightening truckload supply could divert freight into LTL terminals.