The primary way to measure economic growth demonstrates a healthy economy in America and further proof that the commercial trucking sector is prime for continued growth.
“One of the broadest measures of the health of the American economy shows it expanded at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in the third quarter of the year,” reported TruckingInfo.com. “This first of three estimates of the gross domestic product by the U.S. Commerce Department is down from an annual rate of 4.6 percent in the second quarter of the year, but marks the strongest back-to-back quarterly performance since the final half of 2003.”
That growth indicates gains in construction, manufacturing and consumer spending, which are all areas that have a direct impact on the trucking industry.
“During the first quarter of the year the GDP contracted at an annual rate of 2.1 percent, due in large part to the harsh winter and likely contributed to the strong rebound in the second quarter,” TruckingInfo.com added. “This most recent performance by the GDP, which measures the total output of goods and services produced, was higher than many economists were expecting.”
Consumer spending contributed a lot to the GDP growth, which means commercial trucks are staying busy delivering more goods to retailers across the country.
“The increase in real GDP in the third quarter primarily reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures, exports, nonresidential fixed investment, federal government spending, and state and local government spending that were partly offset by a negative contribution from private inventory investment,” the department said in a release. “Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, decreased.”
According to a statement from the Fed it made the decision because evidence suggests the economy is expanding at a moderate pace while there have been solid gains in the labor market and a lower unemployment rate along with household spending rising moderately and business investment increasing.
“All those sleepless nights and excessive nail biting over the last month were for naught, with yesterday’s statement extremely anticlimactic,” said Lindsey Piegza, Sterne Agree chief economist. “The Fed expectantly opted to tread carefully, altering as little as possible in terms of key language within the statement, to avoid any further unwelcome volatility. Even with rising disinflationary fears, the Fed refrained from sounding the alarm bells, and instead focused on the modest improvement in the labor market, and all the while spelling out in further detail their data-dependent stance.”
With a growing economy, commercial truck carriers across the country and in Texas are looking to hire more drivers, especially those with professional CDL training.
“Trucks go anywhere or just about anywhere,” said Bob Costello, the chief economist at the American Trucking Associations. “As the economy continues to improve, we see demands for truck drivers increasing. If you go to truck driver training school and don’t have a criminal record or poor driving record, you’re going to get hired.”
Working as a commercial truck driver can be a rewarding career, especially for a person who appreciates playing such an important role in the national economy. Trucks move America, and as the commercial trucking industry succeeds, so does the national economy. America’s truck drivers play an important role in that process, especially with a shortage of qualified drivers across the country.
The trucking industry has shown steady growth in recent years and economists are predicting continued growth in 2014. That growth is leading to growing demand for more truck drivers, especially those with professional CDL training. At Hamrick students are given hands-on training and instruction from some of the nation’s top instructors.
Students also benefit from the fact that recruiters at Hamrick work to help graduates find employment at some of the best carriers upon completion of the program. In fact, many students complete the CDL training program with multiple job offers waiting for them.
America needs more truck drivers and many Americans need a job. It makes sense that many jobseekers would consider a career as a commercial truck driver, especially considering this will be an in demand career for several years to come.