Weekly Driver Recruiting Report – April 27, 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 FMCSA moves forward and addresses concerns with its Under 21 Pilot Program.

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Numbers at a Glance

April 27, 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 27, 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 27, 2022

Hello everyone and welcome to the Weekly Report. For Randall Reilly, I’m Joshua Miller. If you like our report don’t forget to subscribe, like, and share. Now let’s jump right into this week’s report.

THIS WEEK IN JOB BOARD SEARCHES AND CLICKS

Truck driver searches were up 5% WoW, but down 5% MoM and 10% YoY. Clicks were up across the board with increases of 11% WoW, 5% MoM, and 52% YoY.

THIS WEEK IN FREIGHT

Total load postings were up 8% WoW with a 7% rise for Dry van, a 7% drop for refrigerated, and an increase of 12% WoW for flatbed load volumes.

Truck availability decreased slightly by 1% WoW as the overall load-to-truck ratio rose.

Spot rates dipped by 2¢ per mile WoW. Dry van rates fell by 7¢ per mile WoW, as refrigerated dropped by 13¢ per mile WoW, and flatbed edged up by ½¢ per mile WoW. That slight increase for flatbed sets another record rate, which exceeds the prior record that was posted just two weeks ago.

Before we move on to the story of the week, one thing to keep an eye on is truck availability in the coming weeks. This year’s CVSA Roadcheck event will take place May 17^th-19^th, with this year emphasizing wheel ends. We can expect the spot market to be a little turbulent and majorly affected as truck availability typically sees a noticeable drop as many drivers take time off to avoid the added hassle and inefficiency of the inspections process.

Now on to the story of the week.

STORY OF THE WEEK

The FMCSA is moving forward with the under-21 pilot program, which we have talked about here previously on the report.

The program will allow 18–20-year old’s to operate interstate as apprentices with motor carriers that sign up to participate in the program. The FMCSA says that renewal is necessary “to determine the safety impacts” of allowing younger drivers to drive across state lines.

The FMCSA also responded to multiple concerns that have been raised about the pilot program. Among those concerns and suggestions, they addressed were:

• Requiring additional performance benchmarks, such as mountainous driving. The FMCSA pushed back saying that many apprentices may never drive across any mountainous terrain.
• On the topic of increasing requirements for the experienced drivers set to mentor the younger apprentices, the FMCSA says it does not see any reason to increase the current requirements. As it stands now, the experienced drivers must be at least 26 years old with at least 5 years of commercial experience, having held a CDL and been employed for at least the last two years.
• Regarding the suggestion that trucks with apprentice drivers feature high-visibility markings, such as stickers the FMCSA says any such markings could bias the data collection by potentially changing the driving behaviors of those around the marked trucks.

• And finally, the FMCSA pushed back on the notion to increase the minimum rate of liability insurance to $10 million for any participating carriers by noting that they do not have any direct authority to change liability requirements.

That does it for this week’s report. We hope the information has been useful to you. You can download your own PDF copy of all the data and information we covered in today’s show in the description on YouTube or in the body of the page on our Randall Reilly site. We look forward to you joining us next week as we take another look back to help you move forward. Until then have a great week everybody.