FTR Associates, Nashville, Ind., said Wednesday that driver availability continues to be a problem for many fleets.

The company said its Truck Share of Employment Index at the end of the first quarter of 2005 remained at a historically high level with a reading of 146.2, indicating an extremely tight labor market in this segment. This is only slightly lower than the average reading of 146.4 seen during 2004.
Strong demands for competing labor continue to put pressure on the Driver Labor Index calculated by FTR. The company’s data suggests that the available pool of labor from which trucking can recruit new drivers remains at low levels at the same time that freight continues to grow moderately. Current driver shortage is now forecast to be 54,000 drivers by the fourth quarter, larger than previously expected.
The Driver Labor Market Indicators report looks at supply and demand issues as well as how freight and broader labor markets 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.
For more information, go to www.ftrassociates.net.