Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been hard to nail down what direction trucking recruitment will go year by year. This year is seemingly going to be no different, as experts are struggling to find any predictive patterns to follow for the year. Experts are saying that the only thing they can really expect thus far is for the levels to rely primarily on the demand and turnaround of the freight market.
With this said, they expect low recruitment given the track record there has been for the freight market.
In 2023, the freight market hit a bit of a wall. During the pandemic, there was a boom, as most people were relying on deliveries for the average item of theirs to be shipped to their home. Because there was such an increase in demand for approximately two years, when suddenly most things returned to pre-pandemic norms, demand for shipping decreased. The decrease in demand felt more painful and led to more struggles for the industry because during the booming time period, industry experts focused less on recruitment of new drivers and the retention of current ones. They knew there was interest in the field of work without even needing to find drivers themselves or hold onto them, because someone always came along.
Since focus weened off of these two things and the demand for freight movement slowed, the industry has really been struggling to gain traction. If the freight market picks up again, then it is a hope that we have that recruitment picks up with it.
Some in the industry expected to see a change towards the end of 2023.
The change that experts expected to happen subsequently did not happen. Now “everybody is taking a wait-and-see approach,” according to Scott Dismuke. Dismuke is the vice president of operations at an employee and analytics firm known as People. Data. Analytics (PDA). This waiting and seeing attitude also does not help with the inability to track down and predict recruitment levels. Rather than conducting more heavy hitting, thorough investigations to find a possible resolution, experts are sitting back and letting things happen until they can issue a last minute prediction just before the reality plays out.
