Another 4,200 truck drivers lost their jobs in September as a recession slams America's $800 billion

Never really was much of a real driver shortage in this area. There are a number
of new company start-ups......weird/foreign sounding names......mostly intermodal.

Real solid companies.....not so much.

 

4200 trucks on their way to the Auction lots that were going to get rich in 17 and 18 hauling spot market freight .
The market is adjusting.

 

I wonder how many Schneider is responsible for..........

 

Well that depends on who you ask......if you Swift, CR England, Werner, and the other megas, they will say they need more drivers....hence the large numbers of empty trucks at their terminals. If you ask those who are heavily reliant on spot market, they will say it's no driver shortage. The megas rule the industry so if they are needing drivers, it's a shortage.

 

Does this increase or decrease the driver shortage?

 

Real Drivers. Real Reasons.

 

With 3.5 Million Drivers according to the American Trucking Association. Thats a mere 0.12% (Not even close to 1% of the market). Now if it ever hits more than 3.6% (126,000) the road to a Real Recession begins. Especially of it ever hits 6% (210,000) its definitely a recession.

 

The ATA ( companies like Schneider) stands firm that we're short 60K drivers.

So now I guess we're short 64.2K?

 

The driver shortage is because of the vetting process that FMCSA requires of every trucking company. Plenty of applicants, but not enough who qualify. Of those applicants that do qualify, too many washout quickly because they are more the type who are escaping one undesired occupational circumstance to another occupational circumstance for which the newer drivers are largely just not a fit. Those people in the work force who truly are quality candidates typically choose other professions that have, as they view, better working conditions. As it is right now, for the amount of hours being put in by the average truck driver, the truck driving profession is as desirable as prison correctional officer. That means, most of your trucking workforce is not high quality candidates. Rather, it is a small number of very good candidates who become very good employees, and a substantially larger number of poor candidates who become poor employees and within a year are out of the industry all together. So, someone explain, with that set of circumstances, how there can be anything but a shortage of drivers? Ahhh, a shortage of DRIVERS, not a shortage of applicants nor a shortage of new hires. Everyone here should know that a new hire at a trucking company (not coming from another company) is not yet a qualified truck driver. Plenty of people being hired but not enough staying. What’s the solution? Higher wages to attract larger numbers of good candidates who want a trucking career and are not as many who are simply desperate for change to escape. Several things I have read, I had to get that out, and here seemed as good a place as any.