Variant, U.S. Xpress' digital fleet, was supposed to be the future, using telematics data and complex algorithms to manage the fleet. At first, it was a success. But last year things started going downhill.
Continued improvement in the economy will drive healthier freight volumes and create more demand for drivers. Motor carriers should remain focused on driver retention, ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said.
As of February 2021, high driver turnover topped the list of factors causing driver wages to raise.
Despite increases, the 2020 average driver turnover rate is still running behind 2019.
According to the American Trucking Associations and carrier U.S. Xpress, there are a number of factors affecting how the trucking industry will pull out of 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the American Trucking Associations, COVID-19 has severely impacted the annualized turnover rate at large and small truckload carriers, which experienced double digit declines in the second quarter of 2020.
According to a recent report from Stay Metrics, while driver turnover rates spiked early in the first quarter of 2020, they soon began trending down and dropped to all-time lows in March.
The turnover rate at large truckload fleets – those with more than $30 million in annual revenue – jumped nine points-- marking the largest quarterly increase since the second quarter of 2016-- to an annualized rate of 96%.
The driver shortage is a touchy subject. Some say it's just the turnover of truckers finding better jobs at other fleets. Contributing Editor Rolf Lockwood thinks there may be more to it than that.
A government official expert at analyzing labor trends contends that trucking is not experiencing a driver shortage, rather she sees the problem as one of painful turnover in one segment of the industry.
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