Labor Dept. official: there is no driver shortage

Updated Sep 14, 2019
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A federal researcher is once again calling into question a much-touted belief in the American trucking industry.

Our colleague James Jaillet writes in Commercial Carrier Journal:

“Continuing to buck a key talking point within the industry, promoted particularly heavily by the American Trucking Associations, researcher Kristen Monaco on Wednesday reiterated a point she made in a research piece published this March: There is no driver shortage in the trucking industry.

“Monaco, an associate commissioner at the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, spoke Wednesday at the FTR Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana.

“Driver turnover is indeed a major issue, she says. And there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence of carriers struggling to fill seats. However, those issues do not mean there’s an actual shortage of drivers, Monaco argues. What’s largely perceived as a labor shortage is, in fact, a retention issue, with heavy recruiting efforts by fleets contributing to the persistently high turnover rates, she says.”

Read Jaillet’s entire story here.