Driver Turnover Rises, Showing Stronger Economy, ATA Says
Driver turnover rose sharply in last year鈥檚 fourth quarter as carriers boosted payrolls, indicating stronger economic recovery, American Trucking Associations said Thursday.
Turnover at large truckload fleets rose to an annual rate of 69%, the highest since the second quarter of 2008, following a 49% third-quarter rate and a record low 39% in the first quarter of last year, ATA said.
Small truckload fleets鈥 turnover rose to 49%, compared with 44% in the third quarter and a record low 35% rate in the 2010 fourth quarter.
Less-than-truckload carriers鈥 turnover remained 鈥渆xceptionally low鈥 at 6%, ATA said.
ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said increased hiring, coupled with rising turnover, indicated that fleets are responding to signs of the growing economic recovery.
鈥淔leets are clearly hiring more drivers as demand for freight hauling increases,鈥 Costello said. 鈥淚n addition, while part of the turnover can be attributed to regulatory changes, we believe the bulk of this churn is due to increased demand for drivers.鈥
鈥淎s the recovery strengthens, we鈥檙e likely to see demand for drivers and trucking services continue to increase, with that demand manifesting itself in rising turnover rates and ultimately, once again, a shortage of truck drivers,鈥 he added.
Small truckload companies boosted driver employment by 0.8%, while large truckload carriers boosted total employment by 0.3%, adding linehaul drivers but trimming back local driver pools.
Truckload fleets also increased their dispatch workforce by 3.1%, but cut overall administrative staff by 2.1%, ATA said.
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