by Women In Trucking Staff, on Nov 18, 2025 9:37:47 AM
Dan Murray of ATRI addressed data that helps the industry to better understand issues impacting women in trucking.
Three years into a historic freight recession, the trucking industry is still stuck in a rut. Rates and volumes have barely budged, even as per-mile costs climb far faster than inflation — a frustrating combination that’s putting real pressure on fleet margins and forcing companies to trim expenses wherever they can. Trucking employment, especially among drivers, continues to fall as layoffs, market exits, and bankruptcies ripple through the sector. And despite all this capacity shaking out of the system, the tough economic backdrop has kept those cutbacks from delivering the rate relief carriers have been hoping for.
“The economy remains the top concern of the trucking industry,” said Dan Murray, Senior Vice President with the American Transportation Research Institute. ATRI released its 21st annual Top Industry Issues report just two weeks before Murray spoke at WIT’s Accelerate! Conference last week. He addressed other topics highlighted in the latest issues report during his session, “What We Know About Women in Trucking: Mining the Data.”
Meanwhile, conditions in the broader American economy became markedly more uncertain this year. Manufacturing production surpassed 2024 levels but not 2022 levels, and housing starts continued to falter, primarily due to higher mortgage rates. The labor market cooled over the year, with unemployment reaching 4.3% in August for the first time since 2021. Monthly inflation rates remained under 3% in 2025 despite trending upward since April, but disposable personal income growth decelerated. Retail sales, after a flat first half of 2025, rose over the summer months. In August, however, the rate of retail sales growth surpassed that of disposable income, mostly driven by record-high consumer debt levels, with the consequence possibly being limited retail sales going forward. These economic headwinds also underscore truck drivers’ growing concerns over compensation.
In this adverse operating environment, the rising cost of risk loomed large. Insurance premiums rose by an additional 3% per mile in 2024, consolidating the previous year’s 12.5% increase, and additional data suggests that renewals in the first half of 2025 rose by nearly 10%. Despite preliminary data suggesting a fourth straight annual decrease in large truck crashes, insurers continued to experience unprofitability in the commercial auto segment due to rising loss severity, increasing claims costs, and social inflation’s impact on litigation. In response, litigation reformers notched victories in nine states thus far this year – including damages caps, eliminating phantom damages, and third-party litigation funding disclosures – but still face counter-reform headwinds from the plaintiff bar.
Federal policy changes generated new uncertainties and opportunities for trucking as well. Tariffs and ambiguity over their implementation could contribute to inflation and influence consumer demand over the coming year. Truck-tractor import tariffs of 25%, currently scheduled for November 1, are poised to significantly increase motor carriers’ equipment costs – a line-item that rose by over 50% in the last 5 years. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) acted to rescind various vehicle emission rules pertaining to NOx, electric vehicle mandates, and the EPA’s authority to regulate emissions altogether. Amid a flurry of its own regulatory activity, the U.S. Department of Transportation set new English language requirement guidelines for truck drivers that have already had a measurable enforcement impact.
The trucking industry faced severe challenges and upheavals in 2025, and it faces still more in the year to come. Responding to these challenges will require the collective efforts of motor carriers, state and federal associations, governmental agencies, and industry suppliers. ATRI’s Top Industry Issues report has facilitated this vital collaboration for more than 20 years by making the voice of the trucking industry heard – from drivers to executives and everyone in between – and by helping to identify pathways forward.
“We’re in the third year of this extended freight recession and the pain is real,” said Andy Owens, A&M Transport President. “Operating costs climbed to their highest ever at the same time that freight pricing has bottomed out. ATRI’s annual analysis is so critical for our industry to not only quantify the issues, but more importantly, to understand what we can collectively do as an industry to address each.”
While the Economy retained its #1 spot, Lawsuit Abuse Reform and Insurance Cost and Availability each rose one spot, to be the #2 and #3 top concerns, respectively. The lack of available Truck Parking dropped two spots this year to the #4 concern and Driver Compensation held on to its #5 position.
Driver Training Standard had been on the list of truck driver concerns since 2019, but this year garnered enough votes across all respondents to become the #9 overall top concern. Among truck driver respondents, it was ranked 7th.
More than 46% of the survey respondents were motor carrier executives and personnel, truck drivers represented 30%, with the remaining 23% made up of other freight stakeholders. Among truck driver respondents, Driver Compensation, Truck Parking and English Language Proficiency were the top three concerns, while motor carriers ranked the Economy, Lawsuit Abuse Reform, and Insurance Cost and Availability as their top three concerns.
More than 4,200 trucking industry stakeholders participated in this year’s survey, a 14% increase over the 2024 survey. Respondents included motor carriers, truck drivers, industry suppliers, driver trainers, and law enforcement, among other groups.
The complete results of the annual survey were released as part of 2025 American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference and Exhibition. The full report can be found on ATRI's website here.
Related Articles:
- Economy Factors: Closing In On An Inflection
- Top Trucking Concerns: The Economy, Truck Parking, BEVs
- Flash Report: A Taxing Time for the U.S. Economy
- Washington Update: Key Areas That Impact Women In Trucking
- How Shippers Adapt to Permanent Volatility in Supply Chains
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