FTR Associates, Nashville, Ind., said in press release Thursday that strong demands for competing labor continue to put pressure on the Driver Labor Index.

FTR calculates the statistic it describes as the truck share of employment.
However, FTR forecasts that slowing freight growth in 2005 is allowing fleets to work off some of the record driver shortages of the last 18 months. The company predicts that the driver shortage will continue to shrink, ending 2005 with a shortfall of 33,000 drivers, down from the estimated cumulative shortage of 300,000 during 2003/2004.
Any upturn in freight demand will reverse this trend and significantly impact the industry’s need for additional drivers, the company said.
According to FTR, the Driver Labor Market Indicators report looks at supply and demand issues as well as how freight and broader labor markets all affect the pool of available drivers.
FTR Associates forecast reports cover trucking and rail transportation and include demand analysis for commercial vehicle as well as railcar. Specially designed reports cover specific needs.
For more information, visit www.ftrassociates.net.