I’ve always been fascinated by trucks – big trucks; the ones with 18 wheels – and the men and women who drive them.
My first full-time job offer out of college way back in the day was from the American Trucking Association. That I declined that position to take one with another DC nonprofit didn’t negate my lifelong fascination.
One of my fondest memories of that era is my casual friendship with a guy who worked for National Geographic during the week and drove 500-1,000 miles roundtrip on weekends as an independent truck driver.
When he retired from National Geo, he drove a lot more miles every week in his big truck to support his true love (well, actually, true loves – if you count his lovely wife!).
When I read over a year ago about the nation’s big shortage of truck drivers, I worried about people like my old friend, not to mention its impact on our economy, with already messed-up supply chains.
More Truckers Than Ever
But today, more than 18 months later, Axios’ Emily Peck asks, what trucker shortage?
She writes that employers have managed to find and hire over 115,000 new truckers since the depths of the pandemic in 2020.
At the height of the supply chain crisis, which is still ongoing, transportation companies pointed to a shortage of truckers as a contributing factor.
Truckers and their advocates were quick to point out that low pay, poor working conditions and high turnover were driving the growing problem.
Now, Peck says the shortage is getting better, even possibly over – pointing to a report from transportation market research group ACT, which notes, "The driver supply flipped from shortage to surplus in early 2022."
The surge in hiring, according to Peck, comes as big wage increases and demand for trucks to deliver all the goods we've been buying are bringing loads of new drivers to the profession.
Plus, she adds, some of the health constraints of the pandemic have begun to fade away.
Now that federal stimulus checks are a thing of the past and prices are surging, driving a truck – in an industry with wage growth that’s outpacing inflation – looks unusually appealing.
Andrzej Tomczyk of too big to fail Goldman Sachs said employers "have been trying to hire like crazy ever since the pandemic-induced demand surge led to relative capacity constraints in the industry. So, it’s likely a reflection of some catch-up coming online."
Over 20,000 more long-haul truckers got jobs in May, the largest monthly addition of new truckers since 1997 – when the Bureau of Labor Statistics started tracking.
In fact, long-haul trucking employment is now 2% above pre-pandemic levels. And average weekly earnings were about 11% higher in May, compared to a year ago, for drivers in freight trucking.
According to BLS, the average weekly earnings of truck drivers have increased about 33% from January 2018 to May 2022, to $1,215 – which equates to $63,000 a year.
Many veteran and independent long-haul drivers earn a lot more. Recently, more drivers have bought their own truck and, according to Peck, are taking advantage of surging "spot prices" (live market rates) for hauling.
"A lot of people who wouldn't normally be a truck driver" became truck drivers, observed Kenny Vieth, president of ACT.
As the chart above shows, there are now a new millennium high of 1.1 million general freight truck drivers – up 28% from about 860,000 at the depths of the Great Recession.
By Dave Allen for Discount Gold & Silver
I’ve always been fascinated by trucks – big trucks; the ones with 18 wheels – and the men and women who drive them.
My first full-time job offer out of college way back in the day was from the American Trucking Association. That I declined that position to take one with another DC nonprofit didn’t negate my lifelong fascination.
One of my fondest memories of that era is my casual friendship with a guy who worked for National Geographic during the week and drove 500-1,000 miles roundtrip on weekends as an independent truck driver.
When he retired from National Geo, he drove a lot more miles every week in his big truck to support his true love (well, actually, true loves – if you count his lovely wife!).
When I read over a year ago about the nation’s big shortage of truck drivers, I worried about people like my old friend, not to mention its impact on our economy, with already messed-up supply chains.
More Truckers Than Ever
But today, more than 18 months later, Axios’ Emily Peck asks, what trucker shortage?
She writes that employers have managed to find and hire over 115,000 new truckers since the depths of the pandemic in 2020.
At the height of the supply chain crisis, which is still ongoing, transportation companies pointed to a shortage of truckers as a contributing factor.
Truckers and their advocates were quick to point out that low pay, poor working conditions and high turnover were driving the growing problem.
Now, Peck says the shortage is getting better, even possibly over – pointing to a report from transportation market research group ACT, which notes, "The driver supply flipped from shortage to surplus in early 2022."
The surge in hiring, according to Peck, comes as big wage increases and demand for trucks to deliver all the goods we've been buying are bringing loads of new drivers to the profession.
Plus, she adds, some of the health constraints of the pandemic have begun to fade away.
Now that federal stimulus checks are a thing of the past and prices are surging, driving a truck – in an industry with wage growth that’s outpacing inflation – looks unusually appealing.
Andrzej Tomczyk of too big to fail Goldman Sachs said employers "have been trying to hire like crazy ever since the pandemic-induced demand surge led to relative capacity constraints in the industry. So, it’s likely a reflection of some catch-up coming online."
Over 20,000 more long-haul truckers got jobs in May, the largest monthly addition of new truckers since 1997 – when the Bureau of Labor Statistics started tracking.
In fact, long-haul trucking employment is now 2% above pre-pandemic levels. And average weekly earnings were about 11% higher in May, compared to a year ago, for drivers in freight trucking.
According to BLS, the average weekly earnings of truck drivers have increased about 33% from January 2018 to May 2022, to $1,215 – which equates to $63,000 a year.
Many veteran and independent long-haul drivers earn a lot more. Recently, more drivers have bought their own truck and, according to Peck, are taking advantage of surging "spot prices" (live market rates) for hauling.
"A lot of people who wouldn't normally be a truck driver" became truck drivers, observed Kenny Vieth, president of ACT.
As the chart above shows, there are now a new millennium high of 1.1 million general freight truck drivers – up 28% from about 860,000 at the depths of the Great Recession.
More Truckers Needed
Still, the industry still needs a lot more truckers, according to economist Bob Costello at the American Trucking Associations.
He confirms some of the increase in employed truckers comes from independents making the switch to full-time jobs. Plus, he adds, the increase in wages has also led some truckers to drive fewer hours.
Peck notes that these dynamics also provide important clues about the health of the overall economy. Besides, there always have been trucker shortages.
According to a 1914 article from The Traffic World that Peck received from Vieth:
"Practically every truck manufacturer and nearly all employers complain of the great difficulty of securing drivers who are competent."
Just don’t mention a trucker shortage to the millions of other motorists who drive in HOV lanes during morning and afternoon rush hours who see an 18-wheeler getting bigger and bigger in their rearview mirror.
Gold recovered from today’s lunchtime lows to the mid-$1,720s in the New York spot after market.
After a positive performance last week, the gold/silver ratio is trading at a fresh two-year high above 93 points.
Analysts believe that silver will continue to struggle because of recession fears.
Industrial uses account for 60% of silver demand.
Thus, weaker economic growth over the coming months – as the Fed unleashes more of its money tightening – will likely lead to lower demand for silver.
Don’t wait for ramped-up economic uncertainty and geopolitical volatility to cause gold to move higher; think about locking into today’s prices now.