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Trucking labor tightness: openings, quits and turnover
Driver supply is the pressure behind pay, retention and detention. BLS publishes job openings, quits and separations monthly for transportation, warehousing and utilities. This page reads them against 2019 and against all industries, then compares your own turnover with the industry figure.
Monthly seriesBLS JOLTS, transportation, warehousing and utilities, and CES truck transportation jobsData through Aug 2026 (92 months in this snapshot)Retrieved Oct 10, 2026, 07:00 UTCretrieved Oct 10, 2026
Read this first
JOLTS has no truck-driver detail: the industry group includes warehousing and utilities, and it counts all workers. The truck jobs column comes from a different survey. The latest month is preliminary. This is a gauge of the labor market around trucking and not a count of open driver jobs.
Openings and quits since 2019
Per 100 jobs, monthly. Solid lines are transportation, warehousing and utilities.
- Openings rate
- Quits rate
- All industries, openings rate
Seasonally adjusted JOLTS series, rates per 100 jobs.
Compare your own turnover
Enter your drivers, how many left in the last 12 months and what a replacement costs you.
Pre-filled values are Example data. Replace them with your own.
Your turnover, last 12 months
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- Industry group, 12 months
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- Your replacement cost
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- At the industry rate
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- Difference a year
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Enter your drivers.
Formula: your turnover = leavers / drivers. Industry leavers = drivers x the sum of the last 12 monthly separations rates. Cost = leavers x cost to replace one driver. Integer cents, rounded once. Nothing you type leaves this page.
The last 12 months
Click a column heading to sort. Rates are per 100 jobs. Openings are in thousands. The truck jobs column is seasonally adjusted.
| Month | Openings, thousands | Openings rate | Quits rate | Separations rate | Truck transportation jobs, thousands |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 305 | 4.1 | 2.3 | 4.0 | 1,472.3 |
| Oct 2025 | 412 | 5.4 | 2.1 | 3.9 | 1,472.6 |
| Nov 2025 | 268 | 3.6 | 2.1 | 3.8 | 1,467.8 |
| Dec 2025 | 296 | 4.0 | 2.1 | 4.7 | 1,467.2 |
| Jan 2026 | 311 | 4.2 | 1.9 | 3.8 | 1,465.6 |
| Feb 2026 | 298 | 4.0 | 2.2 | 4.0 | 1,465.1 |
| Mar 2026 | 301 | 4.0 | 2.5 | 4.5 | 1,464.3 |
| Apr 2026 | 341 | 4.5 | 2.2 | 4.1 | 1,469.4 |
| May 2026 | 295 | 3.9 | 2.8 | 4.7 | 1,467.7 |
| Jun 2026 | 383 | 5.1 | 2.3 | 4.2 | 1,465.1 |
| Jul 2026 | 314 | 4.2 | 2.0 | 3.8 | 1,466.3 |
| Aug 2026 | 338 | 4.5 | 1.9 | 3.5 | 1,470.5 |
Source: BLS JOLTS and CES, retrieved Oct 10, 2026. The latest month is preliminary.
Where the latest month sits
The latest value against the average, the high and the low since Jan 2019. The last column is the share of months below the latest value.
| Measure | Latest | Average since Jan 2019 | Highest (month) | Lowest (month) | Months below latest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Openings rate | 4.5 | 5.4 | 8.5 (Dec 2021) | 3.5 (Mar 2025) | 29% |
| Quits rate | 1.9 | 2.4 | 3.3 (Aug 2022) | 1.5 (Apr 2020) | 2% |
| Separations rate | 3.5 | 4.2 | 9.3 (Mar 2020) | 3.1 (Mar 2024) | 3% |
| All industries, openings rate | 4.3 | 5.2 | 7.5 (Mar 2022) | 3.4 (Apr 2020) | 12% |
Source: BLS JOLTS, retrieved Oct 10, 2026. Seasonally adjusted rates, per 100 jobs.
What it means for your fleet
- Read openings and quits together. High openings with high quits mean drivers can move easily. Low quits mean they stay put.
- Know your own turnover. Count leavers over 12 months and compare with the industry figure. A gap is worth a look at pay, home time and detention.
- Price the replacement. The cost of an empty seat is the number to compare with a raise.
- Watch the all-industry line. When it falls with trucking, drivers have fewer places to go.
- Use local pay data too. The driver pay by metro page shows what drivers earn where you hire.
Questions
What do these numbers measure?
JOLTS, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, asks employers each month about open jobs, hires, quits and other separations. The openings rate is openings per 100 jobs (filled plus open). The quits rate is employees who left voluntarily as a share of employment. The separations rate adds layoffs and other exits.
Is this about truck drivers?
No. JOLTS publishes the industry group transportation, warehousing and utilities, not truck transportation or drivers alone. The truck transportation jobs column comes from a different survey, the Current Employment Statistics. Use this page as a gauge of the labor market around trucking, not as a driver count.
Why compare with all industries?
A rate that falls while the all-industry rate is steady says something about this group. A rate that falls with everything else says something about the whole labor market. The page shows both.
How do you get the industry turnover figure?
It is the sum of the last 12 monthly separations rates, which approximates the share of employment that left in a year. It counts every separation including layoffs, so it is higher than voluntary quits alone. The form compares your own leavers with it.
How current is it?
The snapshot was retrieved Oct 10, 2026. JOLTS runs through Aug 2026 and truck transportation employment through Sep 2026. BLS revises both for several months, and the latest values are preliminary.
Related guides and tools
- Driver pay by metro: median pay by area
- Trucking jobs, pay and prices: wages, jobs and freight prices
- Trucking industry by state: firms and jobs by state
- Cost per mile: your own cost per mile
- Trucking price index by segment: prices by segment
- Intelligence hub: all open-data pages
See what your last 20 loads show.
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