E-Commerce Leads to Higher Employment in Trucking Industry

The world is a changing place, particularly in the category of commerce. During the last 15 years, there has been a massive shift to conduct business transactions online rather than through traditional in-person methods. Interestingly, this altered reality has created an advantage for the trucking industry.

As retailers continue to increase their digital presence and manifest sales via e-commerce, they have been confronted with a complex issue: how to safely and affordably ship their merchandise directly to their customers.

According to The Wall Street Journal, retailers and suppliers are now faced with higher fulfillment costs and shrinking margins, which means that they are increasingly moving their goods in smaller amounts and at higher frequencies. What does this mean in our industry, in terms of real numbers?

Since January of 2011, the employment in trucking has grown by 15 percent — whereas the total job market is up only 9 percent during the same period. (That’s a very good sign for us.) More recent news is even better: In January 2016, the United States added 151,000 jobs to the total overall market. In the trucking industry alone, 1,500 of the jobs created were specific to our field.

So keep up the good work, online retailers. We’re more than happy to accommodate your needs.