45% of US freight businesses say a lack of qualified applicants is their biggest challenge when trying to maintain a steady driver workforce, a new Tech.co study has found.
In addition, more than one in three (38%) of them say that these workforce limitations are “critical” or of “high urgency,” indicating that the lack of drivers is a massive problem and the nation’s freight operations are feeling the squeeze.
The state of affairs is getting worse, too: The majority (63%) of these freight businesses hold that driver recruitment and retention has stagnated or worsened just within the last year.
Most Say Driver Recruitment & Retention Has Flatlined or Dropped Year Over Year
One of the biggest revelations from Tech.co’s new 2025 Logistics Report? The driver shortage is getting worse.
63% of respondents said that their attempts at recruiting new drivers and retaining the ones they have are either stagnent or have gotten worse results, compared to this time last year. In contrast, just 11% said that they saw significant improvement with recruitment and retention during this time.
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With 45% citing it, the lack of qualified applicants was head and shoulders above every other reason why fright operations said they struggled to recruit and retain drivers.
Recruitment Challenges: Few Applications, Strong Competition, High Turnover
Driver qualifications aren’t the only problem driving the recruitment slowdown. The second biggest problem was competition from other employers, with almost exactly one in three respondents (34%) citing this concern. This goes hand in hand with the lack of applicants, since both of these problems stem from a strong demand and a low supply.
The third biggest problem, cited by 31% of respondents, was high turnover, as drivers leave their freight employers after just a short time. Other concerns included:
- Aging workforce (25%)
- Cost of recruitment (22%)
- Poor work-life balance (20%)
- Not enough work (15%)
With other business costs set to increase, due in part to rising inflation and higher tariffs driving down the exports that many trucking operations carry, the costs of competing with other businesses will only become a bigger problem.
Owners and Manager Aren’t in Alignment
Owners are more concerned than managers, according to the brand-new Tech.co survey results: 14% of freight business owners see these workforce issues as critical, which is more than double the 6% of managers who say the same.
This perception gap widened further when these two groups were asked if the recruitment situation has “gotten significantly worse,” with business owners five times more likely than managers to answer in the affirmative.
This gap indicates a structural blindspot that could be keeping those managing a company’s business functions from understanding the labor challenges that higher-ups are feeling.
Top Tech Solutions: Digital Freight Matching and Route Optimization
The driver shortage crisis is pushing US freight companies to consider tech tools that can speed up deliveries, reduce costs, or otherwise shore up operations.
Using highest satisfaction ratings, Tech.co determined the top five technology fixes to be:
- Digital freight matching (89%)
- Routing optimization software (87%)
- Warehouse robotics (86%)
- Fuel/energy reduction technology (85%)
- Driver monitoring & coaching platforms (84%)
Overall, Tech.co’s survey found that 63% of U.S. freight businesses report using some form of tech to reduce reliance on drivers.
The crisis continues, so these tech solutions aren’t the entire answer. But, as US freight companies find their driver scarcity problems keep growing across the second half of 2025, every little boost to the bottom line can help.
