Driver Recruiting Weekly Report – January 26, 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 – The pressure on the supply chain continues to rise!

Check Out the Full January 2022 Trucking Market Update

To view the full Trucking Market Update mentioned in this week’s report click here. To download a complete PDF copy of the report fill out the form below.

New episodes of the Weekly Report premiere every Wednesday at 10 AM CT on our YouTube channel and Recruiting Resources page.

We provide the Weekly Report in numerous formats every week. Which one is right for you? Watch the latest reports on our Recruiting Resources or YouTube pages, use our Numbers at a Glance section for quick visual references, download the Weekly Report PDF (available below), read the transcript, or listen to the audio version of January 26, 2022, Weekly Report below.

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Numbers at a Glance

Spot Rates
WOW: Down 6¢ per mile
Spot Rates by Segment
WoW: Dry Van Down 3¢ per mile
WoW: Refrigerated Down 12¢ per mile
WoW: Flatbed Down 4¢ per mile
Load Posting Volume
WOW: Down 4%
Load Volume by Segment
WoW: Dry Van Down 10%
WoW: Refrigerated Down 12%
WoW: Flatbed Up 4%
Truck Postings
WOW: Down 1%
Truck Driver Searches
WOW: Flat
MoM: Up 27%
YoY: Down 8%
Clicks on Truck Driver Postings
WOW: Up 6%
MoM: Up 36%
YoY: Up 59%

January 26, 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 January 26, 2022, is available for your convenience in PDF form below. Click the image to view and download your copy of the Weekly Trucking Insights.

Weekly Report Transcript – January 26, 2022

Hello everyone and welcome to the Weekly Report. For Randall-Reilly, I’m Joshua Miller. If you find what we do here useful, you may want to also check out our brand-new Monthly Trucking Market Update.

Our friend and associate professor of supply chain management, Jason Miller will be providing a monthly report covering the “big three” factors in the trucking market: supply conditions, demand conditions, and of course price.

He will also cover a bonus topic in each report. Those will be available mid-month from this point moving forward, and the first trucking market update was released this past Friday. I recommend you check it out if you haven’t already. Now, let’s get to why you’re here. Let’s get to the report.

THIS WEEK IN JOB BOARD SEARCHES AND CLICKS

Truck driver searches were flat WoW, up 27% MoM, and down 8% YoY. For clicks on truck driver postings we saw increases all the way across the board with gains of 6% WoW, 36% MoM, and 59% YoY.

This continued trend of rising clicks once again leads us to believe that drivers have a much greater job search intent on job boards now than they did a year ago.

THIS WEEK IN FREIGHT

Total load postings dipped by 4% WoW. With that, we saw both dry van and refrigerated volume fall – 10% and 12% respectively, while flatbed posted a 4% rise WoW.

Overall truck availability decreased 1% WoW as the overall load-to-truck ratio declined, but flatbed’s load-to-truck ratio managed to rise to its highest level since early June.

Spot rates fell by 6¢ per mile, WoW and all three segments saw a decline in rates. Dry van was down 3¢ per mile, refrigerated fell 12¢ per mile, and flatbed was down 4¢ per mile WoW.

Overall, the spot market volume and rates generally eased in line with the seasonal expectations for Week 3 of 2022, but we should note that both metrics remain far above normal levels.

THE STORY OF THE WEEK

Demand for for-hire truck transportation exhibited an uptick on a seasonally adjusted basis in Q4 of 2021. Jason Miller, whom I mentioned earlier regarding the new trucking market update, expects that demand for truck transportation will remain strong because manufacturing supply chains should begin to unsnarl once the Omicron variant runs its course in the next few months. And remember, manufacturing still accounts for most for-hire trucking ton-miles.

Employment in the various subsectors of truck transportation has improved since Q2 2021. In May 2021, truck transportation employment was 55,000 less than when compared to May of 2019. By November, however, that number had fallen to just 1,600 less than November 2019.

Capacity tightness continues to bolster truckload contract prices. Dry van prices are up 35% from what we saw in 2019, and specialized prices (including flatbed) have risen by 14% in the past two years.

Supply chain pressure continues to rise. Jason Miller recently developed a Supply Chain Pressure Index, and according to his calculations, the supply chain pressure is up by about 337% when comparing Q3 of 2021 to 2018. Miller developed the Index in response to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s index which suggested that supply chain pressure is decreasing.

That does it for the Weekly Report. Remember if you’d like to learn more about Jason Miller’s thoughts on the current trucking market, that new monthly trucking market update for January 2022 is available right now! Another new update will be coming at you in mid-February. I’ll leave a link for you below so you can check out the January update if you’d like. Come on back and see us next time as we take a look back to help you move forward. Until then, have a great week everybody.