In The News
Though fleets churn through drivers, there’s no evidence of ‘driver shortage,’ says DOL economist
Backing her study released in March, Department of Labor economist Kristen Monaco on Wednesday continued to push back against the widespread notion that there’s a persistent “driver shortage” in the trucking industry, despite having ruffled feathers over the issue earlier this year.
Though widely accepted — and promoted heavily by the American Trucking Associations and a few other trade groups — the “driver shortage” is more myth than reality, says Monaco, an associate commissioner of the DOL’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. What’s largely perceived as a labor shortage is in fact a retention issue, she says, with heavy recruiting efforts by fleets contributing to the persistently high turnover rates...