Wide-reaching supply chain issues and consumer demand continue to place an increased strain on the trucking industry. The freight sector has dealt with a workforce shortage that lagged behind its need for decades. But jump-starting economies and other factors have reportedly left truck driver ranks particularly thin in recent months.
American Trucking Associations (ATA) president Chris Spear recently went on the record indicating a perfect storm has left the freight hauling industry upwards of 80,000 drivers short. Before global economies started ramping back up, the U.S. was expected to muddle through the year about 61,000 trucker drivers down. The surge in consumer demand and early holiday orders placed by retailers has resulted in the sector requiring 30 percent more truckers.
“That’s a pretty big spike,” Spear reportedly said.
Truckers are tasked with delivering upwards of 71 percent of goods and materials in the U.S. According to a 2019 ATA report, the country experienced a 20 percent shortfall in qualified CDL holders from 2017 to 2018. Those numbers remained relatively flat during the height of the pandemic when many businesses shuttered or reduced hours of operation. However, the recent bottlenecks at California ports can be traced back to the heightened need for truckers.
“Twenty-four-seven operations, it’s an improvement. But it doesn’t matter if it’s a port in LA or Long Beach or the last mile of delivery from a train to a warehouse in Wichita. You’re going to have to have a driver and a truck move that freight,” Spear reportedly said.
The ATA’s “Truck Driver Shortage Analysis 2019” report indicates the 2021 need for more drivers exceeded previous models. Based on the analysis, the industry needs to add more than 100,000 truckers by 2023 and 160,000 by 2028 to fill the workforce. The turnover and attrition rates in critical positions continue to be a concern.
“Turnover, which was 89 percent for large for-hire truckload carriers and 73 percent for small for-hire truckload fleets in 2018, is a reflection of demand for drivers, with higher rates generally indicating strong demand for drivers. The vast majority of driver turnover is churn in the industry – drivers moving from one carrier to another,” the ATA report states. “Over the next decade, the trucking industry will need to hire roughly 1.1 million new drivers, or an average of nearly 110,000 per year. Replacing retiring truck drivers will be by far the largest factor, accounting for over half of new driver hires (54 percent). The second largest factor will be industry growth, accounting for 25 percent of new driver hires.”
Should consumer demand wane in 2022, the need for more truck drivers may return to predicted models. But the fact remains that the country has not enjoyed a fully staffed truck driving workforce in more than a decade. Increased wages and creating pathways for young adults to earn their CDL are vital to securing the country’s supply chains.
Sources: trucking.org, cnn.com
Trucking companies are charging up to 35% increases for freight but offering drivers a 2% increase in pay to run under near gulag level Communist road rules. And they complain about no one wanting the job.
That’s your definition of greedy company morons huh.
I know right , you’d think that some CEO could figure it out on his own, guess their too busy counting all the money that their making.
This tired old lie is still a thing? Yawn.
One of the ironies of our caricature of capitalism is a trucking association that doesn’t really involve or reflect truckers.
The ATA has no credibility. Driver shortages is made up. You can’t find a place to park now. I looked for 3 hours last Friday evening in the Ft Worth and Dallas area. Finally I took a chance on shipper and they let me into load 6 hours early. I believe they have an agenda to keep wages down and protect these carriers who can’t retain drivers because they treat them horribly lie and cheat them. It’s revolving door these drivers are in. No one will convince me otherwise I’ve been out 34 years. Treat drivers better. Actually fight for drivers and revise some these rediculous rules. ATA is all about megas. Far as I concerned so is OOIDA.
And why would any company treat drivers better when they can treat them the way they have been while continuing to rake in their profits? If drivers want to be treated better and paid better, then drivers are going to have to, for once, unite and stand together in unity and demand it. But, we all know that will NEVER happen, so nothing will change. I mean really, we can’t continue to sit idly by complaining about the trucking industry while doing absolutely nothing about it and then expecting someone else to make positive changes for us. Haha – that’s like getting into a fight with someone, then pointing at some random stranger walking by and telling them to take care of it. That person is going to tell you that it’s your fight, you take care of it.
Bull get the over paid union crane workers to stop screwing with truck drivers and get them loaded. When a driver asks a simple question about how long will it take , the crane operator makes wait longer . WHY ? It s just a simple question. This is the problem.
Papa Biden has no clue what’s up because he is not a driver and to say there is a shortage of drivers is bull 🐂 it’s hard to find a place to park anywhere. What’s this mean , simple to many trucks. Not enough hard work from over paid under worked crane operators.
This is my Rant !
From professional driver.
If the need for us truck drivers is so great maybe we should start paying us more just maybe you will get more drivers
The wages needs increased.
Exactly Scott, the average truck driver makes $22/hr according the the next article in this report. Well, you can go to McDonald’s with no job history ever and make $15/hr! Serving French fries doesn’t sound so bad, at least your home every night, can work overtime without regulating you and what the worst thing that could happen, a burn by the fryer!!!!!
In the real world, shortages create price/wage increases that reflect said shortages, but not in their world. If the mega con-artists could get their hands in 80k more drivers next week…75k of them would be gone 3 weeks later once they’ve figured out that there’s no money in groceries and rail yards.
Yes skilled professionals should be paid what they’re worth in some cases now you can make almost as much money being in the retail or food industry without the responsibility
It’s a good thing the ATA isn’t in the banking industry you would be broke. It’s not really a driver shortage never has been mostly because new drivers coming into the business leave almost immediately because they are treated like crap from the general public on the road in the receivers and truck stops. Not to mention how bad the pay is I will admit the pay has done alot of catching up in the past 5 years or so. But another reason is the turn over rate why would people leave such a great paying job? Let that sink in.
If you are an independent trucker who went to all the trouble to buy his own truck and trailer in the belief that investing in the American system of equal opportunity and hard honest work will provide the chance of bettering yourself and those around you – then you are living in a world of fantasy. Just insurance rates for the independent solo trucker are $20,000 to $25,000 a year. How much money do you have to make before you can actually start earning a living?
billingsgate1@yahoo.com
I agree with all of you so i really don’t have anything to add exept to say i been in it since ’99 and the trucking industry has a big mess as long as I can remember and Rayzer is 💯% right it won’t change unless we drivers do something to change it cause we can’t expect it to get better on its own and anyone else will just change it for the worst.
Been driving over twenty years, planning on leaving the industry within 2 – 3 years. Yes, I have the “normal” gripes. Parking, regulations, low pay etc… This might not be popular on this thread, but the biggest reason I hate this job is the other drivers. Truckers, not the people in their cars. At least 90% of these idiot truckers drive aggressively, speed, and tailgate. Not professional whatsoever. A good many of all these accidents are caused by tailgating alone.. To the few good drivers out there, I salute you. You have my respect.
100 % agree. Have my endorsement and then CDL for 41 years. Nothing pisses me off more when I get a big rig riding my bumper in my pickup. Especially on the interstate when it 70 MPH for 4 wheels and 60 for the big rigs. I don’t agree with the 90%, but 1 jackass can make all of us look like one …..
A bunch of bogus, big player industry propaganda. All they really want is an excuse to bring in foreign drivers to undercut American drivers. They created their own monster with the ways they have treated drivers over the years. Cheap pay and cheap equipment being the most obvious, and treating drivers like nothing more than an add on to the truck. Now they want the government to give them a way out. Using the so called driver shortage as an excuse. Pretty pathetic.
Bull get the over paid union crane workers to stop screwing with truck drivers and get them loaded. When a driver asks a simple question about how long will it take , the crane operator makes wait longer . WHY ? It s just a simple question. This is the problem.
Papa Biden has no clue what’s up because he is not a driver and to say there is a shortage of drivers is bull 🐂 it’s hard to find a place to park anywhere. What’s this mean , simple to many trucks. Not enough hard work from over paid under worked crane operators.
This is my Rant !
From professional driver.
ATA is for the big carriers they are not for the drivers if they do there research there is NO driver shortage but there is a major problem with driver turnover and these carriers claim that there is a driver shortage if they would pay the driver a decent wage and not micro manage the drivers you will find out you will keep more drivers but your DM wants to drive the truck from his or her cubicle. I know this because I worked for one company like this they route you and tell you where to fuel and how much to put on so here you are running around with little less than a half tank fuel all the time worrying about running out.
Oh and I forgot these company’s don’t want to get the drivers home and the majority of these company’s don’t pay Holladay pay eather and keep you out there on the holiday and don’t run you eather I know this because I worked for company’s like this too and they wonder why they have a high turnover with the drivers.
Now they want to prey on 18 year old kids that can’t stay off their phones for more than 5 minutes. That will also most likely keep to themselves not gain knowledge on how crooked this industry is and be stuck in that cycle trap for longer periods until they perfected autonomous trucks. These old asz people running the show have become so predictable. It’s time to get these mofos out of office and we need to stop counting on the next old asz backwards thinking people. fresh thinking minds in power. That’s ok I’ll continue to educate the youth as best I can to prevent them from making the same mistakes.