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 – Expect driver pay to continue to increase, especially for over-the-road positions.
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| Spot Rates |
| WOW: ▼ Down 1¢ per Mile |
| Spot Rates by Segment |
| WoW: Dry Van ▼ Down 4¢ per Mile |
| WoW: Refrigerated ▼ Down 12¢ per Mile |
| WoW: Flatbed ▲ Up 3¢ per Mile |
| Load Posting Volume |
| WOW: ▼ Down 1% |
| Load Volume by Segment |
| WoW: Dry Van ▼ Down 5% |
| WoW: Refrigerated ▼ Down 16% |
| WoW: Flatbed ▲ Up 7% |
| Truck Postings |
| WOW: ▼ Down 3% |
| Truck Driver Searches |
| WOW: ▲ Up 15% |
| MoM: ▲ Up 22% |
| YoY: ▼ Down 1% |
| Clicks on Truck Driver Postings |
| WOW: ■ Flat |
| MoM: ▼ Down 2% |
| YoY: ▲ Up 41% |
Would you like to have your own copy of the trucking industry data? All of the information covered in this week’s report for February 23, 2022, is available for your convenience in PDF form below. Click the image to view and download your copy of the Weekly Trucking Insight.
Hello everyone and welcome to the Weekly Report. For Randall Reilly, I’m Joshua Miller. Before we jump in, if you’re watching us over on YouTube don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe.
Click that little bell while you’re at it and you’ll be notified of all our new content … content like an all-new Listening In that happened to debut yesterday. If you haven’t seen it, check it out. Now onto the report.
Truck driver searches were up 15% WoW and 22% MoM but dipped by 1% YoY. Clicks remained flat WoW, dropped 2% MoM, but were up 41% YoY.
The search activity last week reached its highest levels since last September, with inexperienced/trainee driver postings seeing the highest percentage in WoW search increases. While the click activity remained flat, it was one of only five times the click activity has surpassed 200,000 since April of 2020. And all five of those times … have been since the beginning of 2022.
Total load postings fell 1% WoW, with dry van and refrigerated volume decreasing. Dry van dropped by 5%, while refrigerated fell by 16% WoW. Flatbed volume, on the other hand, increased by 7% WoW.
Truck availability declined by 3% as the overall load-to-truck ratio increased slightly. The load-to-truck ratios for both dry van and refrigerated fell, but as you may have suspected flatbed’s load-to-truck ratio increased.
Spot rates dipped by 1¢ per mile WoW, with once again dry van and refrigerated seeing drops. Dry van rates were down 4¢ per mile, WoW, and refrigerated dropped by 12¢ per mile. Flatbed rates, however, increased by 3¢ per mile WoW.
Are you wondering if the elevated driver pay will come down any time soon? Well … don’t count on it. TL carriers began raising driver pay nearly a year and a half ago as the demand for drivers shot up. Carriers used wage increases to attempt to increase the capacity in an industry that requires long hours and being away from home for extended amounts of time.
Trucking executives believe that a lack of labor across all sectors of the economy is the key catalyst currently driving inflation. In a recent interview, Jim Richards, the President and CEO of KLLM Transport Services, said “A lot of the reason prices at the grocery store have increased is transportation. A lot of the reason transportation has increased is because of wages. Those aren’t going backward.”
Carriers have had to go back to customers to renegotiate rates in recent months in an attempt to combat inflation, and for the most part customers have seemed to be accepting of the changes.
Executives expect driver pay to continue to rise, especially for those over-the-road drivers. Candidate interest in local or home-weekly jobs has jumped considerably during COVID, while interest in OTR positions has diminished. As the wages continue to increase, Richards says the industry “should improve the image of the job and start hiring more qualified drivers.”
And that’ll do it for this week’s report. Come back and see us next week for a new report, and don’t forget to check out our Talent Intelligence Resource page at RandallReilly.com and our YouTube channel for more great driver recruiting content. Until next time, have a great week everybody.
