Short article chocked full of supply and demand problems thoughout a supply chain, illustrates structural unemployment, changes in the labor force for trucking, the pitfalls of extending unemployment benefits...seems unending...if you need a source for AP Economics or a college economics class, this is one stop shopping...
Shortages of trucks and truck drivers stall product deliveries
I keep thinking about how the health of the transportation industry acts as an indicator of commerce overall. Though it also seems that the benefits of unemployment compensation is higher than those of these jobs, all of which seems to muck up recovery. It's also interesting that there's a lag in the health of the transport industry to all the other industries trying to transport stuff. Is it just a lack of labor resources? Or is it that the compensation for labor is "too low" for the unemployed to want to apply for the job? (the converse of the fact that unemployment benefits are "too high")? On top of the benefits issue, the coming safety regulations even further limit the labor pool, even excluding experienced drivers (thus lowering the overall productivity of the drivers)!
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