Besides complaining when we're stuck behind one of its behemoths in traffic, trucking is an industry that we rarely contemplate. More than other industries, the ever-cyclical trucking sector is dependent upon the economy.
Fuel is always expensive and ever-unpredictable, but labor is just as complicated.
Every branch of labor currently suffers a dearth of workers, but the trucking industry is perhaps the most Mojave-like. Companies are so desperate for drivers that some go to incredible lengths to hire and retain them. Joel Dandria, Director of Training and Development at the ATA, estimates that the industry needs 80,000 new truckers a year. In a good economy with low unemployment, for instance, many drivers leave trucking to take jobs that keep them closer to home. A study by the Gallup Organization for the ATA Foundation concludes that roughly 400,000 drivers each year switch employers.