Trucking industry payrolls were up in July, but at half the pace from June. Slower wage growth might be a good thing.
Category: Freight Research
Survival of the Fittest: How Convoy Data Science Used Survival Analysis to Estimate the Class 8 Truck Replacement Rate
Class 8 truck orders are one of the most important data points in freight, but conventional estimates of replacement demand are lacking in precision.
The freight labor market: Hiring doesn’t get easier from here
June jobs data confirmed that there is no easy fix to trucking’s labor market woes.
Three Data Points For Better Conversations About the Trucker Shortage
Hiring at trucking firms slowed in May according to payroll data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics this morning.
Eating-Out Caught Up With Eating-In during April for the First Time since the Pandemic Began
Spending at restaurants and bars caught up with at-home food spending in April 2021 for the first time since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Where did all the drivers go?
Trucking jobs fell by 1,500 in April according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data published today. Where did all the truckers go? Convoy’s Aaron Terrazas says there’s no one-size-fits-all explanation for trucking’s worker shortage.
First 2021 Hurricane Forecasts Predict Record Storms
During the 2021 hurricane season, reports anticipate 17 storms to making landfall along the continental U.S. coastline.
Did Winter Weather Snow the Signal in February’s Headline Jobs Data?
For the second month in a row, nonfarm payroll data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly Employment Situation Report underwhelmed.
Unemployment is Still High, but the Labor Market for Truckers is Comparatively Tight
The labor market proved more resilient in January than anticipated, with unemployment rate falling to 6.5% compared to a forecast of 6.7%.
What will happen to 300,000 package delivery drivers in 2021?
Even if demand for final delivery remains elevated as the economy returns to normal, there is going to be a reduction in driver delivery jobs.
Trends to Watch from Today’s Retail Sales Data
Breaking the trend of recent months, November retail data disappointed while factory output data (released yesterday) generally beat forecasts. The combined data provide a portrait of the freight economy on the eve of the most recent wave of community lockdowns and just before the official start of the holiday shopping season Here are a couple…
Long-Haul Jobs are Driving Trucking’s “Shecession”
Trucking firms continued to add jobs in November according to data released this morning by the Bureau of Labor Statistics: Trucking industry employment increased by 0.9% (12,700 jobs, seasonally adjusted) in November, an accelerating pace from the 0.5% (7,400) pace reported from September to October. Compared to a year ago, truck transportation employment is still…
March in December — Awaiting the “Parcelpocalypse”
Retail spending took a brief breather in October, slipping slightly on its relentless upward march that began in June. The annual pace of growth in retail sales edged lower to 8.5% compared to 8.8% in September, the first year-over-year deceleration since states began to reopen after the first wave of Covid-19 induced lockdowns. But as…
Four Questions About the Outlook for Trucking Industry Employment
Trucking industry employment increased by 0.7% (9,600 jobs, seasonally adjusted) in October according to payroll data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) — nearly matching August for the best month for job gains since the start of the pandemic and close to the monthly job gains at the last freight market peak…
Consumers are in overdrive, but factories are stalling in second gear
Consumer spending hit new highs in September while the industrial sector stabilized, but ultimately failed to recover its pre-crisis momentum. Data published this morning by the Census Bureau and the Federal Reserve Board beg the question: How durable is the economic recovery if America’s consumers are in overdrive, but its factories are stalling in second…
Don’t Blame Construction for the Trucker Shortage
The labor market recovery continued (though at a slowing pace) in September and headlines toward the end of the month suggest that the official payroll and survey data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau may not yet capture accelerating layoffs in the travel, hospitality and recreation sectors — which are bracing…
Assessing the Impact of the Paycheck Protection Program on the Freight Market
As the U.S. economy came to a sudden stop in March, lawmakers enacted the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), providing emergency loans to help businesses survive the mandatory closures and stay-at-home orders issued in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite some hiccups, the program was a success by many accounts. It helped businesses across the country…
Key Learnings from Factory and Retail Data
Government data released this week provided the latest official read on the state of U.S. factories and consumers — two critical pillars of freight demand. Outside seemingly omnipresent natural disaster zones, freight demand has been distinctly cooler in early September, though relative to historic norms it remains strong. As consumption and production patterns settle into a…
Marketplace Update with Kevin Rutherford – Part 3: Rates
On Friday, July 10th, Convoy joined Kevin on his webinar series, Positive Matters, to discuss the current economy in regards to supply, demand, and truckload rates. In part one (demand), we looked at data on factory output and the headwinds and tailwinds in the freight economy. In part two (supply), we focussed on how driver…
What the August Employment Report didn’t tell us about trucking jobs
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) monthly Employment Situation Report is widely recognized as the most authoritative portrait of real-time economic activity. But for the freight industry, the report provides an incomplete snapshot of the state of trucker employment. This morning’s data showed a 0.7% (10,000, seasonally adjusted) increase in truck transportation jobs in August…