![\"Trucking](\"http:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Trucking_Big_Rig-300x165.jpg\")
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Freight is often looked at as a bellwether for the rest of the economy. If industries ranging from retail to housing to lumber are estimating that they\u2019ll need fewer truckers,\u00a0many economists see that as an omen<\/a>\u00a0of an economic downturn. If people aren\u2019t buying or building as much stuff, there\u2019s less of a need for truckers. Trucks move 72% of all freight.<\/p>\n One 2019 study<\/a>\u00a0from Convoy, a trucking brokerage firm, found that six out of 12 trucking recessions led to macroeconomic downturns. For example, the trucking industry dipped in April 2006 \u2014 more than a year before the Great Recession slammed the larger economy.<\/p>\n Trucking experiences recessionary periods twice as much as the rest of the economy. But for the 2 million American truck drivers who power much of this industry, the effects can be brutal.<\/p>\n Trucking demand is \u201cnear freight recession levels,\u201d according to Bank of America. Shippers\u2019 outlook on rates, capacity and inventory levels are matching attitudes not seen since May and June 2020, when pandemic lockdowns sent freight volumes into\u00a0a historic decline<\/a>.<\/p>\n As\u00a0FreightWaves reports<\/a>, in a Friday note to investors, Ken Hoexter (available to\u00a0Zero Hedge professional subscribers<\/a>), the managing director of Bank of America\u2019s trucking research, wrote that\u00a0shippers\u2019 view of demand is down 23% year-over-year. The proprietary Truckload Demand Indicator hit 58 \u2014 the lowest since June 2020.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n