We provide the Weekly Report to help give you a full understanding of what is happening in the driver recruiting market from week to week. Each week we cover vital metrics like spot rates, clicks on postings, lead volume, etc. In addition to full coverage of the numbers, we feature a new story in each episode covering a topic impacting those in the trucking and driver recruiting industries.
Watch the full video report, listen to an audio version, or take in the highlights with our visual aids. It is our goal to bring you all the information you need to run effective recruiting campaigns.
Don’t Have Time to Watch the Full Video?
We provide the Weekly Report in numerous formats every week. Which one is right for you? Watch the latest reports on our Recruiting Resources or YouTube pages, use our Numbers at a Glance section for quick visual references, download the Weekly Report PDF (available below), read the transcript, or listen to the audio version of the April 7, 2021, Weekly Report below.
Numbers At A Glance – April 7, 2021
[one_half]
Truck Driver Searches |
| WoW: ∇ Down 10% |
|---|
| MoM: ∇ Down 14% |
| YoY: Δ Up 6% |
Load Volume |
| WoW: ∇ Down 2% |
|---|
Volume by Segment |
| WoW: Dry Van ≡ Flat |
|---|
| WoW: Refrigerated ≡ Flat |
| WoW: Flatbed ∇ Down 4% This comes after last week’s all-time high. |
[/one_half]
[one_half_last]
Clicks On Truck Driver Postings |
| WoW: ∇ Down 7% |
|---|
| MoM: ∇ Down 32% |
| YoY: ∇ Down 60% |
Truck Postings |
| WoW: Δ Up 15% |
|---|
Truck Posting by Segment |
| WoW: Dry Van Δ Up 16% |
|---|
| WoW: Refrigerated Δ Up 6% |
| WoW: Flatbed Δ Up 15% |
Spot Rates |
| WoW: Δ Up 6¢ per mile This is 2¢ below the June 2018 record level. |
|---|
Rates by Segment |
| WoW: Dry Van Δ Up 9¢ per mile |
|---|
| WoW: Refrigerated Δ Up 6¢ per mile |
| WoW: Flatbed Δ Up 5¢ per mile |
[/one_half_last]
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Check out the Data for Yourself
Want to go over all the trucking industry data yourself? No problem! All of the information covered in this week’s report for April 7, 2021, is available for your convenience in PDF form below.
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Register for Digging Deeper
Register for tomorrow’s live Digging Deeper viewing. You can also sign up to be notified by email when new Digging Deeper episodes are debuting. In episode 6, Dave welcomes Randall-Reilly’s Digital Marketing Analyst, Kyle Jernigan. Together they talk about why it’s more important than ever to get to drivers quickly, and why cost-per-lead shouldn’t be the only metric you use when analyzing your recruiting strategy. Sign up today and join us Thursday, April 8th – 2pm CST for our latest episode – Speed > Cost-per-Lead: The Race to Fill Trucks.
Information on Fleet Pay Increases
Schneider Pay Increases
Trimac Pay Increases
Roehl Pay Increases
Weekly Report – April 7, 2021 Transcript
For Randall-Reilly’s Weekly Report, I’m Joshua Miller. We’re here with all the latest data and figures for truck driver recruiting every Wednesday so don’t forget to come back and join us. Let’s jump into this week’s numbers.
THIS WEEK IN JOB BOARD SEARCHES AND CLICKS
Truck driver searches were down 10% WoW, down 14% MoM, up 6% YoY. Meanwhile, the clicks on truck driver postings dropped by 7% WoW, 32% MoM, and 60% YoY.
The drop in click activity marks the second straight week having the lowest click count on record. This also marks the fifth consecutive week the activity has decreased.
In addition to clicks, search volume also dropped indicating that drivers simply have less intent than they did in early March.
THIS WEEK IN FREIGHT
Overall load posting volume dipped by 2% WoW, but both dry van and refrigerated postings remained flat. It was flatbed that was impacted by a 4% drop WoW coming off last week’s all-time high numbers.
Truck postings spiked by 15% WoW and all three major segments saw increases compared to the previous week. Dry van rose by 16% WoW, refrigerated was up 6% WoW, and flatbed came in with an increase of 15% WoW. These increases came as the ratio of loads to trucks fell to its lowest level in 8 weeks … but for a bit of context here, freight has been really crazy and this low-level is also the 7th highest number on record, only being beaten by the previous 6 weeks.
Spot rates were up 6¢ per mile, and levels are just 2¢ cents per mile below the record level posted in June of 2018. Each segment saw increases with dry van rising by 9¢ per mile, refrigerated up 6¢ per mile, and flatbed was up 5¢ per mile WoW. And in addition to that, specialized rates spiked nearly 17¢ per mile WoW.
NOW WE COME TO OUR STORY OF THE WEEK
Driver turnover rate is flat. The annualized rate for OTR truckload drivers held steady in Q4 of 2020. This is a little surprising with the continued tightness in the driver market and all the recent pay increases being advertised by fleets recently.
One reason for the lack of turnover could very well be that with freight being in such high demand drivers simply don’t have the time to change jobs.
For large truckload fleets with over $30 million in yearly revenue, the annualized turnover rate was unchanged at 92%. For smaller truckload carriers, the turnover rate actually dropped by two points and came in at 72%.
With stimulus packages being passed and vaccination distribution being a high priority, it is very likely that freight volume will remain quite high, which in turn will only increase the demand for drivers. So, it’s important for carriers to remain focused on driver retention in this kind of competitive market. Several fleets have attacked this head on and in addition to trying to improve driver experiences with better equipment and support, they have begun increasing driver pay as a further incentive to make sure drivers stay put when they need them most.
Schneider, Trimac, and Roehl are just three of the carriers that announced changes and pay increases would be rolling out in 2021. In years past we have seen fleets get into battles with competing sign-on bonuses to attract new drivers, but with the demand so high and freight at historic levels, fleets have rightly shifted their attention to keeping the drivers they have.
If you’d like some more information on just how important retention and speed is when it comes to your driver recruiting in the current market you may want to think about checking out this month’s Digging Deeper. Dave’s guest, and Randall-Reilly’s own Digital Marketing Analyst, Kyle Jernigan, talk about the race to fill trucks and go into more depth and detail in their full conversation. If you’re interested, I’ve left a link below for tomorrow’s live viewing, and if you can’t make it to that, you can check it out on our YouTube page or blog when it debuts there in a week or so.
And that does it for this week’s report. Come on back next Wednesday morning when we examine the latest numbers and cover a new story of the week as we take a look back to help you move forward. Have a great week everybody.
