Driver Turnover Decreases Slightly in Late 2011

After a year of quarterly increases, the turnover rate for truck drivers at large truckload fleets dipped one percentage point to an annualized rate of 88 percent, the American Trucking Associations announced Wednesday, April 11.

This reprieve, while surprising, is likely temporary, said Bob Costello, ATA chief economist. As the economy continues to recover, freight volumes should continue to grow, which along with regulatory challenges related to hours-of-service and the government’s CSA fleet oversight program, will continue to cause the driver market to tighten and the turnover rate to rise.

Turnover among large truckload fleets had risen to 89 percent in the third quarter of 2011 after bottoming out at 39 percent in the first quarter of 2010. For all of 2011, the large truckload turnover rate averaged 83 percent, the highest average since 2007 when churn averaged 117 percent.

At small truckload firms with less than $30 million in annual revenue, the turnover rate dipped to 55 percent from 57 percent in the previous quarter. The fourth-quarter turnover rate for less-than-truckload fleets fell to 7 percent from 10 percent in the third quarter.