In addition, the Commission interpreted the Act to allow contract rate making without regulatory review, and it opened the field for transport brokers, which could manage better match-ups between the demand for transport services and the availability of carriers. Before the law, the industry had simply passed along higher wages and operating costs to shippers. The law had far-reaching consequences, causing a general price reduction for consumer packaged goods, greater price competition, and lower profit margins. Critics of the legislation argue that most of the decline in prices comes from the reduced income of truck drivers. Since the law was passed, the number of new firms has increased dramatically, especially low-cost, non-union carriers. By 1990, the number of licensed carriers exceeded 40,000, more than twice as in 1980. Combined with the Staggers Act (1980), intermodal freight transport surged, expanding 70 percent between 1981 and 1986. Deregulation allowed manufacturers to reduce inventories, to move their products more quickly, and to be more responsive to customers. Consumers indirectly benefited from the more efficient, lower-cost transport of goods, according to a comprehensive study from the Department of Transportation. "The deregulation of the trucking industry in the 1980s resulted in the loss of more than 10,000 employers that used to contribute" to the Central States Pension Fund. This is one of the factors that "led to Central States Pension Fund’s extreme under-funding problem".