Weekly Driver Recruiting Report – April 20, 2022

The Weekly Report brings you updated data on recruiting metrics including click, search, and spot rates, plus a new story of the week. This week’s story – Despite dire predictions, trucking could be on the road to normalization.

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Numbers at a Glance

April 20, 2022 Driver Recruiting Insights

Would you like to have your own copy of the trucking industry data? All of the information covered in this week’s report for April 20, 2022, is available for your convenience in PDF form below. Click the image to view and download your copy of the Weekly Trucking Insight.

Weekly Report Transcript – April 20, 2022

Hello everyone. Welcome to another edition of the Weekly Report. For Randall Reilly, I’m Joshua Miller.  If you’re a fan of the report give us a like, share the video, and if you’re not already – subscribe! We’ve got a lot to get to today, so let’s not waste any time. Let’s jump right in to the report.

THIS WEEK IN JOB BOARD SEARCHES AND CLICKS

Searches were down 5% WoW and 15% MoM, but up by 2% YoY. For clicks on truck driver postings we saw decreases of 11% WoW and 15% MoM, but an increase of 44% YoY.

THIS WEEK IN FREIGHT

Total load postings decreased by 9% WoW. That is 29% lower than the same week in 2021, but 69% above the five-year average.

Dry van load postings were down 9%, while refrigerated postings inched up by 1%, and flatbed fell by 11% WoW.

The overall truck availability was down 7% WoW as the overall load-to-truck ratio fell to its lowest level since December of 2020.

Now before we get to spot rates, just a quick note here. Over the past several weeks you may have noticed that we have shared the spot rates both including and excluding fuel.

Following the unprecedented diesel price surge in March, however, there will be revisions based on analysis of the data, and due to that, one of our sources FTR will no longer be sharing rates excluding fuel. That being said here are the spot rates including fuel, which will be the only rates we’re able to share with you moving forward.

Overall spot rates dipped by 1¢ per mile WoW, as dry van fell by 12¢, refrigerated rose by 8¢, and flatbed … well flatbed rates remained flat WoW.

STORY OF THE WEEK

Some are predicting a trucking bloodbath. As we continue to see softening spot rates and record-high diesel prices, some in trucking media have predicted a wave of bankruptcies to hit many smaller and newer trucking companies.

These doom and gloom predictions have caused many publicly traded fleets to see their stock drop by double-digit percentages. But the question remains, is a “freight recession” really imminent?

Well, Eric Starks, the CEO and Chairman of FTR Transportation Intelligence, says no. In fact, he believes that the freight market will normalize to pre-COVID patterns rather than falling into bonified recession.

It’s his belief that freight will come off the peak it has been on for nearly years now and actually get back to normal. Starks defines this “normalization” as freight rates increasing 3% to 5% over a year instead of 20% to 30%, we’ve seen in the last few years.

How does he arrive at this conclusion? For one, he points to inventory levels and the mix of manufactured freight and consumer goods already beginning to normalize. Around 70% to 80% of freight is manufactured goods, so even if the consumer demand does begin to wane, manufacturing can still put those trucks to use.