Originally published at: Trucking jobs post slight decline in unexpected total payroll drop - FreightWaves
Truck transportation jobs took a slight dip in February.
I find this report somewhat ironic. The so-called “experts” cited are individuals who operate large freight brokerages. Brokers are NOT the trucking industry. But they are frequently presented as authorities on trucking trends and market conditions—even though many of the same brokerage practices have contributed significantly to the industry’s decline over the past several years.
These companies regularly position themselves as analysts of the market while failing to consistently comply with the very regulations they agreed to follow. That contradiction alone calls into question their credibility as experts and their motive in stating. Their only concern for trucking is the spread, not the viability or condition of “TRUCKING”.
These conclusions are not exceptional insight; most working carriers have understood these realities for quite some time. Freight market volatility is not simply an external force—it is often amplified by the structure and behavior of large brokerage platforms themselves. Allow me to say “Amen” for you.
Uber Freight, for example, is hardly a neutral observer or long-term steward of the trucking industry. The company was built by investors who poured substantial capital into the sector after identifying a profitable opportunity to strip it. Now those same actors present themselves as authoritative voices on the state of the industry.
That framing deserves skepticism. The trucking industry should be defined and explained by the carriers who operate within it—not by brokerage platforms that sit between the freight and the trucks.
Brokers make nothing and they haul nothing meaning that they are dispensable. Were it not for all of the rules and laws that they break, waive or resist, they would barely exist today.