Driver turnover at large truckload carriers increased nine percentage points to an annualized rate of 96% in the third quarter.

That was the largest quarterly increase since the second quarter of 2016, American Trucking Associations reported. The turnover rate is now at its highest point since the second quarter of 2018.

Large truckload carriers have more than $30 million in annual revenue. The turnover rate for smaller carriers, which had been at the lowest point since 2011, bumped up six points in the third quarter to 73%.

“Counterintuitively, we saw turnover rise even as the freight demand was relatively soft,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “While turnover rose at both small and large carriers, the reasons were quite different. Large carriers reduced the number of drivers they employed, in keeping with lackluster freight levels, but smaller carriers added to their driver pools, increasing their number of drivers by 1.9%.”

Costello added: “During the first two quarters of the year, larger carriers added drivers, but in the third quarter they started right-sizing their fleets. Conversely, smaller companies increased their driver pool in the third quarter for the first time this year.”

Turnover at less-than-truckload carriers dipped our points to an annualized rate of 9%, the lowest level since the final quarter of 2017.