A stronger than expected round of hiring in August brought transportation and warehousing payrolls back to pre-pandemic levels, but new employees aren’t distributed evenly.
Labor
Labor
Coverage of trucking contracts, employees, teamsters, and more.
The US truck sector entered 2018 short truck drivers, and by the time the electronic logging device (ELD) mandate was implemented in the spring, the driver shortage rose to as many 51,000 positions, according to the American Trucking Associations.
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News & Analysis
14 Jul 2021
An ‘unprecedented’ number of new motor carriers is hitting US roads, but they represent a shift in capacity, not an expansion, according to experts.
02 Jul 2021
The US for-hire trucking sector saw its best one-month gain in hiring in seven years during June and total employment in the sector has moved past pre-pandemic levels.
04 Jun 2021
The US for-hire trucking industry has added 25,100 jobs over the past three months, but the US economy appears to be expanding faster than trucking recruiters can hire workers.
12 May 2021
Transportation and warehousing firms losing employees may be competing more often with contractor-based gig economy businesses; trucking, however, is expanding its payroll.
26 Apr 2021
Despite a sharp overall drop in the number of truck driver speeding violations last year, excessive speeding remains a problem, FMCSA violations data show.
06 Apr 2021
Alabama-based truckload carrier AMX is raising driver pay, but wants to do so in a way that will allow the carrier to maintain increased wages when demand – and rates – recede.
05 Apr 2021
US trucking companies reversed a three-month decline in jobs in March, but they haven’t escaped the employment crater created by the COVID-19 pandemic and recession.
30 Mar 2021
Truck driver pay is improving, and that may be keeping more drivers behind the wheel, rather than jumping from job to job.
15 Mar 2021
The rise of e-commerce is leading to growing competition for long-haul truck drivers from local and short-haul businesses, according to a study from Coyote Logistics and Emsi.
05 Mar 2021
The transportation and warehousing sector lost fewer jobs than anticipated in February, but trucking companies saw deeper than expected job losses in a storm-wracked month.
05 Mar 2021
Freight broker Tucker Company said COVID-19 pushed truck drivers to make the switch to larger carriers, but the rise in spot trucking rates is likely to swing them back to smaller fleets.
08 Feb 2021
The loss of 84,300 trucking and warehousing jobs in January -- actual numbers before seasonal adjustment -- makes prospects for tighter capacity and higher rates for US shippers in the months ahead more certain.
20 Jan 2021
Motor carriers must do more than raise driver pay to counteract the current shortfall, including driving greater efficiency in their networks and at shipper facilities to allow existing truckers to make more trips in a given day.
08 Jan 2021
Trucking’s peak season extended well into December, blunting a seasonal decline in actual trucking employment numbers and boosting seasonally adjusted job gains, according to data released Friday.
25 Nov 2020
The number of truck drivers at carriers with up to 100 trucks fell by more than 150,000 from July to October, tightening already scarce capacity, according to an analysis of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) data.
15 Oct 2020
Long-haul trucking faces fiercer competition for truck drivers in the future and a shrinking pool of qualified driver candidates, ATA’s chief economist told the 2020 Transplace Shipper Symposium.
05 Oct 2020
A substantial increase in heavy truck orders in September begs the question: Who will drive those trucks? Trucking employment is improving, but still down 4.7 percent year over year.
09 Sep 2020
US for-hire trucking companies are rehiring truck drivers at a rate slower than the acceleration of freight demand, contributing to rising pressure on truck rates and US shippers.
28 Aug 2020
A proposed Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration pilot project would let truck drivers stop the hours of service clock for up to three hours and then resume driving, giving them more control over their schedules, but a longer day.
05 Jun 2020
The US trucking sector added back a small portion of the jobs lost during March and April as businesses reopened, a sign that shipper demand for trucking services may be on the road to recovering from the COVID-19 recession.
08 May 2020
The recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has erased years of trucking employment gains, bringing payroll headcounts below 2006 levels, US data shows.
11 Mar 2020
Truck demand and spot rates are rising as consumers stockpile goods amid the spread of the coronavirus, but truckers worry about potential loss of work due to quarantines.
22 Jan 2020
The fate of two high-profile challenges to California’s worker classification bill known as AB5 boil down to an argument the trucking industry has used in the past — federal preemption of state and local attempts to regulate interstate commerce.
09 Jan 2020
A California judge has sided with Cal Cartage in a lawsuit brought by the State of California, agreeing with a District Court restraining order issued Dec. 31 that AB5 does not apply to trucking because of federal preemption.
06 Jan 2020
The electronic logging device (ELD) eventually will help shippers find trucks more quickly, help trucking companies better manage drivers, and help drivers better manage hours. But more integration of ELD data with other systems and more development are needed to deliver bigger benefits.
31 Dec 2019
The US District Court has issued a last-minute reprieve for the trucking industry looking to block AB5, issuing a temporary restraining order on Dec. 31 to protect the industry until a Jan. 13 hearing.
24 Dec 2019
With the number of truck drivers in the United States expected to continue rising steadily, motor carriers in the coming years will be focused on to getting the most out of existing drivers' miles and ensuring drivers earn enough money to keep them behind the wheel.
23 Dec 2019
New legislation will take effect in California Jan. 1 that would make it much more difficult for truck drivers to retain independent contractor status, but owner operators are stuck in limbo pending a court decision on a legal challenge to the new rules.
19 Dec 2019
The latest data from the American Trucking Associations shows large truckload carriers cutting drivers and smaller fleets ramping up hiring.
18 Nov 2019
The number of violations issued to drivers for exceeding hours of service limits has dropped significantly since the ELD mandate took effect, but false log violations rose last year.
05 Nov 2019
Regulators are accepting comments on a petition to exempt small carriers from the ELD mandate, as the final compliance deadline for truck drivers and carriers approaches.
01 Nov 2019
The pace of hiring at US for-hire trucking companies continues to slow as low unemployment and alternative work challenge recruiters.
10 Oct 2019
Seven of the top 10 critical issues facing trucking directly involve truck drivers, with pay and detention joining the American Transportation Research Institute’s annual list.
30 Sep 2019
YRC Worldwide achieved its latest labor goal, another step toward its long-term recovery plan.
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Commentary
XPO's Jacobs misremembers European labor relations