Despite an overall reduction in demand, the trucking industry continues to grow. Last month, trucking companies expanded their payrolls and added 1,300 jobs. Since this time last year, roughly 11,000 jobs have been added to the trucking industry. Hiring truckers has been a focal point—not just in anticipation of the holiday peak but to get a strong head start in 2020.

Hiring Truckers Is Not about a Driver Shortage

There is no doubt that the trucking industry experiences driver shortages. Last year’s artificial spike in demand and the pressures it placed on carriers had very little to do with a driver shortage. Instead, the pressure came from shippers who were trying to push out shipments ahead of tariffs.

Thinking this was going to be an ongoing trend, many carriers started hiring truckers and purchasing new equipment based on third- and fourth-quarter revenues. While the demand has dipped, the trucking industry is still growing, and truckers are once again being hired.

Hiring Truckers and Consumer Demand

While truckers move our economy, the complete cycle comes back to consumer demand. If there is no demand from consumers, businesses in other industries do not produce as much, which means the trucking industry moves fewer shipments.

With carriers hiring truckers, this is an indicator that other sectors—specifically manufacturing and factories, which were faltering earlier this year—are also growing and could signal a rebound from the artificial growth spurt at the end of last year.

Carriers that are positioning themselves to hire truckers need to have the capital reserves for scouting, screening, training, payroll, insurance, and more. One way to build up reserves specifically for hiring truckers is to leverage unpaid receivables.

Factoring services from Express Freight Finance can convert unpaid receivables to cash within 24 hours, so trucking companies can hire the drivers necessary to carry shipments into 2020 and beyond. Express Freight Finance is a national leader in factoring services and other solutions designed specifically for the trucking industry.

To get started, contact the experts at Express Freight Finance today.