During the 1950s and 60s, truck driving in the U.S. was a very well-paid blue-collar job before the industry substantially changed in the 80s. This change began with the Motor Carrier Act of 1980, deregulating trucking and allowing the free market to determine freight rates, and drivers' salaries. Since then the trucking industry has grown from $170 billion annually in 1982 to $800 billion today. While in the past trucking was heavily unionized, deregulation has widely opened the industry generating hundreds of thousands of new fleets. (See: FreightWaves, “Why most of America’s ... truck drivers aren’t unionized” by Rachel Premack, 4/20/2023)

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Fairfield, ME, (April 19, 2023) – Parsifal Corporation is pleased to congratulate several key employees as they move to new positions within Parsifal. Mark Olsen, President and CEO shared that he is excited that “Parsifal has such a talented and skilled team to draw from and who embody our core values in the roles they play in the overall success of the company!”

Congratulations to Keturah Ramu (Account Manager), Tim Porter (Team Manager), Derek Crane (Team Manager), David Jones (Chief Marketing Officer), Cliff Cannon (Chief Project Officer), and Bill Van Deventer (Division Manager, International Move Management).

Released last week on PRNewswire: “North American Van Lines, Inc., one of the world's largest moving companies and a subsidiary of Sirva, Inc., announced the addition of Springfield, Va.-based Interstate Moving & Storage to its national moving agent network.” Bud Morrissette, Chief Executive Officer, Interstate Moving & Storage stated that, "northAmerican and Sirva/BGRS are among the strongest names in moving and relocation." (See full news release: “Interstate Moving & Storage Joins northAmerican® Van Lines National Agent Network,” North American Van Lines, Inc., 4/11/2023)

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With a population of over 38 million (including 450+ethnic origins), Christina McCarte explains, “Canada’s targeted immigration level (2023-2025) is close to 1.5 million and includes skilled workers. A record-breaking 431,645 people became permanent residents in 2022.” Canada is in the top 10 largest global economies with a healthy transportation infrastructure and a spectrum of thriving industries including aerospace, mining, forestry, software, energy, mineral/potash mining, forestry and fishing. (See FIDI FOCUS, “Canadian opportunities abound” by Christina McCarte, AMJ Campbell International, 3/14/2023)

In an effort to increase road safety for commercial motor carriers and for all its citizens, the Manitoba, CAN government has announced in a recent news release that it has introduced amendments to the Highway Traffic Amendment Act. The legislation targets unsafe carriers, particularly “chameleon carriers” that are “motor-carrier businesses that choose to close and later reopen under a new name to avoid addressing safety issues.” (More info at: Manitoba Government News Release, March 8, 2023. See link)

Since the fourth quarter of last year there has been a substantial wave of companywide layoffs from the tech company sector across the U.S. Lombardo explains that “According to the data on the website layoffs.fyi, which tracks tech layoffs since COVID-19, there have been over 250,000 layoffs from 1,356 different tech companies.” Most foreign workers in this sector maintain an H-1B visa with limited time to find a new job or else face few other slim options, while most may be forced to leave the country.  (See Worldwide ERC, Published in Global Workforce, “What Does the Wave of Tech Layoffs Mean for Foreign Talent?” Emily Lombardo, 2/27/2023)