Fed Beige Book Cites Trucking Woes as Drivers Prove Hard to Find
American businesses want to keep trucking along, but they鈥檙e running into a persistent roadblock: a driver shortage amid high demand for freight services.
The Federal Reserve鈥檚 July Beige Book, a collection of anecdotes from across the Fed鈥檚 regional bank districts, showed 25 mentions of 鈥渢ruck鈥 or 鈥渢rucking,鈥 up from just 10 a year earlier.
For months, businesses have been expressing anxiety on earnings calls about rising shipping costs and capacity constraints in the trucking industry as a hot economy stokes demand.
鈥淪ix districts specifically mentioned trucking capacity as an issue and attributed it to a shortage of commercial drivers,鈥 according to the Fed report, released July 18.
In some districts, such as the Richmond Fed鈥檚, the shortage means demand is going 鈥減artially unmet.鈥 In the Boston region, it鈥檚 driving up freight costs, while businesses in the Cleveland area are turning to railroads as a transportation method. And in the St. Louis region, it鈥檚 pushing up wages: 鈥淥ne trucking company offered the largest one-time pay increase in its history.鈥
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