The numbers behind April’s nearly 90,000 job losses in trucking

[Mike]

With a staggering 88,000-plus jobs lost in the trucking sector in April, the question becomes whether the change is temporary or more structural.

Since trucking is an industry in which barriers to entry and exit are so low, calling anything a “structural” change is always a bit risky. One need only look back at the wailing of 2018 that a driver shortage had the possibility to seriously cramp the nation’s economy for a long time to come. The Outbound Tender Rejection Index in SONAR, the leading indicator of trucking capacity, stood at 25.65% at its spring 2018 peak. More recently, it’s been under 3%.

The numbers behind April’s nearly 90,000 job losses in trucking

The biggest loss before that in the past seven years: not even 10,000 jobs.

www.freightwaves.com

 

[Mike]

I think quite a bit of this will be structural. Lots of companies, via employees working from home, and temporary structural changes, will learn to do more with less. I'm looking pretty heavily at brokerages when I say this.

 

[mndriver]

Talking to folks around home,....

Telecommuting for work is totally becoming a reality.

Folks are realizing they can get by with a much smaller building overhead and less central control. Some are even seeing increased productivity since they can focus on work at different times than just a traditional time schedule.

 

[krelithous]

Talking to folks around home,....

Telecommuting for work is totally becoming a reality.

Folks are realizing they can get by with a much smaller building overhead and less central control. Some are even seeing increased productivity since they can focus on work at different times than just a traditional time schedule.

rvr's have been doing this for the longest