The Correlation Between More Trucks on the Highway and Economic Growth
More Trucks on Highways Linked to Economic Growth – If you’ve been driving on the highways lately you might have noticed that there seems to be a truck everywhere you look, and if it seems to you like trucking is making a comeback in a major way, you’d be absolutely right.
In fact, this year almost 50,000 new trucking jobs have been created – a testament to the strength of an industry rebounding from recession and growing strongly. Record numbers of new drivers move freight across America, supporting the national economy.
In fact, according to the American Trucking Association annual trucking revenue hit $700 billion in 2014, an all-time industry high.
The growth and success extends beyond the trucking industry and ripples out into many related fields. From warehousing to truck technology development, this growth has affected the economy at large.
Let’s briefly consider how the current boom has impacted other industries and the nation’s overall economic growth.
Growing Pains
To a certain degree, the difficulty in finding and hiring new drivers has brought about the revenue peak. In fact, even with as many new drivers as have come on in the past year, the industry is still coming up very short.
Freight carriers are attempting to recruit drivers quickly, but low capacity limits freight growth. This has created an incredibly tight margin that freight carriers are rushing to capitalize on.
They’re searching for new drivers and using increased revenue to update fleets and increase capacity. According to transportation research group FTR, orders for North American Class 8 trucks has increased to 375,000 units this year.
Integrated Industries
Higher demand and lower capacity makes shipping more profitable than ever, affecting more than just the trucking industry. The 375,000 additional class 8 trucks mentioned above demonstrate how the trucking industry’s growth promotes economic expansion.
According to Don Ake, FTR vice president of commercial vehicles, “The huge amount of orders was driven by several very large fleets placing orders to be built throughout 2015,” and these fleets’ expansion plans are “the result of the (trucking) industry operating near full capacity and fleets having confidence that freight growth will remain strong for the entire year in 2015.”
New driver training, new trucking technology, and more have all experienced a boom. In a June Bureau of Economic Analysis report, it was revealed that the warehousing and storage segment added nearly 28,000 jobs over the past year. This growth parallels the trucking industry, showing the correlation between trucking and overall economic strength.