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The cost of independence: socio-economic profiles of independent truck drivers
Abstract
Nearly 50,000 or one in five (22%) Canadian truck drivers on the road in 1998
were independent truckers or "owner-operators". However, similar to
other forms of self-employment, the net-earnings and socio-economic characteristics
of owner-operators have often been ignored by researchers for reasons of analytical
convenience or data limitations. New data products recently released by Statistics
Canada such as the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) have the potential
to fill much of this gap. The 1997 SLID cross-sectional micro-data files offer
a limited but meaningful insight into the work patterns of the owner-operator
population, complementing and validating well-established business surveys such
as the annual Small for-hire carrier and Owner-operator Survey (SFO). The purpose
of this study, through a multivariate analysis of the 1997 SLID and the 1997
SFO survey, was to compare the work patterns and backgrounds of owner-operators
to company drivers (paid truck drivers employed by carriers). The study found
that while drivers may choose to be self-employed to gain independence, owner-operators
tend to work longer hours to meet fixed and variable costs, in return for lower
after-tax earnings and a greater likelihood of high work-life stress. The analysis
also found that the odds of self-employment among truckers were highest among
drivers over 40 years of age with no post-secondary training.
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