The Weekly Report brings you updates on the most important driver recruiting metrics each and every week. In addition to updated click, search, and rate data we cover a new story of the week. This week’s story – The current administration’s new vaccination policies put fleets and their drivers in the crosshairs.
New episodes of the Weekly Report premiere every Wednesday at 10 AM CT on our YouTube channel and blog 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 the September 15, 2021, Weekly Report below.
Numbers At A Glance – September 15, 2021
[one_half]
Truck Driver Searches |
| WoW: ∇ Down 4% |
|---|
| MoM: ∇ Down 3% |
| YoY: Δ Up 15% |
Load Volume |
| WoW: ∇ Down 20% |
|---|
Volume by Segment |
| WoW: Dry Van ∇ Down 21% |
|---|
| WoW: Refrigerated ∇ Down 30% |
| WoW: Flatbed ∇ Down 14% |
Spot Rates |
| WoW: ∇ Down 3¢ per mile |
|---|
[/one_half]
[one_half_last]
Clicks On Driver Postings |
| WoW: Δ Up 26% |
|---|
| MoM: Δ Up 9% |
| YoY: Δ Up 23% |
Truck Postings |
| WoW: ∇ Down 16% |
|---|
Truck Posting by Segment |
| WoW: Dry Van Data Unavailable |
|---|
| WoW: Refrigerated Data Unavailable |
| WoW: Flatbed Data Unavailable |
Rates by Segment |
| WoW: Dry Van ∇ Down 1¢ per mile |
|---|
| WoW: Refrigerated Δ Up 4¢ per mile |
| WoW: Flatbed ∇ Down 5¢ per mile |
[/one_half_last]
[box]
September 15, 2021, 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 September 15, 2021, is available for your convenience in PDF form below.
Click the image to download September 15, 2021, Driver Recruiting Insights PDF.
[/box]
Weekly Report – September 15, 2021 Transcript
Welcome to show where we take a look back to help you move forward – it’s time for the Weekly Report. For Randall-Reilly, I’m Joshua Miller.
THIS WEEK IN JOB BOARD SEARCHES AND CLICKS
Driver searches saw decreases of 4% WoW and 3% MoM, but searches were up 15% YoY. Clicks on driver postings were all positive. Clicks were up 26% WoW, 9% MoM, and 23% YoY.
The searches for driver jobs remained high but did fall off a little bit from last week’s record high numbers. Click counts surged and hit their highest point since the first full week of August. This jump could possibly be tied to the federal unemployment benefits coming to an end as we mentioned in our last report.
Clicks on postings for trainee/inexperienced drivers had the largest growth percentage-wise WoW, but postings for company and team drivers also had strong click increases. Owner-operator postings, however, saw very little change.
THIS WEEK IN FREIGHT
Load postings in the Truckstop.com system were down by a full 20% WoW, marking the largest percentage drop we’ve seen since Christmas last year. And as you may expect with that large of a drop all three major segments saw declines. Dry van was down by 21%, Refrigerated was down 30%, and flatbed fell by 14% WoW.
Truck availability was also in the red as it decreased by 16% WoW. Unfortunately, all of the data was not available and we do not have the truck availability by segment that we normally do.
We do, however, have all of the spot rate data for you. Overall rates declined by 3¢ per mile WoW. Dry van rates dropped by 1¢ per mile, and flatbed was down 5¢, but refrigerated rates rose by 4¢ per mile WoW and notched another record high.
Although we typically see holidays depress spot volume and capacity, the larger impact we see here likely had to do with the fact that volume heading into the Labor Day holiday weekend was stronger than normal – especially in van markets.
NOW FOR THE STORY OF THE WEEK
As you may have heard by now, the current administration, made waves last week when it announced new policies were to be enforced via the Department of Labor to combat COVID-19.
Moving forward, should the rules go into effect (we’ll get to that in a minute) all employers with 100 or more employees will need to have all employees fully vaccinated or provide a negative COVID test once a week.
Well, Chris Spear, the President, and CEO of the American Trucking Association wasted no time in pushing back against the new sweeping mandates. Spear says, “these proposed requirements – however well-intentioned – threaten to cause further disruptions throughout the supply chain.”
Spear also pointed out that the mandates will likely pit larger trucking companies against their smaller counterparts who fall below that 100 employee threshold for mandatory testing or vaccination.
As we’ve covered here on the Weekly Report before, drivers have pushed back against vaccine requirements, leading many trucking companies to be reluctant to institute their own regular testing or vaccination policies. A recent Truckers News survey showed of those polled, only 32% of drivers had already been or were willing to be vaccinated.
And a recent CCJ survey revealed only 7% of respondents with 101 or more trucks required regular testing or vaccinations. And at the time, over half, 52% said they had no plans to institute such a policy. However, keep in mind that both of these surveys were conducted before the administration’s announcement. So it remains to be seen if some of these fleets begin to change their stance.
The new rules put forth by the administration do still have to pass through the Federal Register, so its effective date remains unclear. In addition to the Federal Register, a number of governors and the RNC have voiced their displeasure and threatened legal action, so it is highly likely this may drag out for quite some time before ultimately being decided by the courts.
If these requirements do manage to make it past all of the impending legal challenges, trucking companies will still need to establish an effective method of how to ensure all unvaccinated employees are tested every week. We’ll keep you posted as the battle unfolds.
That’s it for this week’s report. We look forward to you joining us again next week for updated stats, figures, and a new story of the week. Until then, have a great week everybody.
