- Business conditions declined in January across the board compared to December. The business conditions index for respondents with more than 100 power units dropped from 6.7 to 6.2 and dropped to 5.7 from 6.2 for respondents with up to 100 power units.
- Overall, 23.1% of respondents said business was better January vs. December, while 35.9% said it was worse and 1.3% indicating it was much worse. 39.7% said it was the same.
- Despite the more pessimistic outlook month-over-month, 53.8% of all respondents said January business conditions were better or much better than January 2014 (including 56.3% of larger fleet respondents), and 79.5% expect business to be better or much better in the next six months, adjusting for seasonality.
- No respondents indicated plans to cut full-time or part-time employees or independent contractors in the next six months. 69.6% of respondents with fewer than 100 power units plan to add full-time employees, compared to 56.4% of respondents with more than 100 power units.
- Driver availability remains the growing top concern for all respondents at 79.5% (up from 71.8% in December), followed by freight pricing (6.4%) and the political climate in Washington (5.1%) and freight volume (also 5.1%).
