The truck driver shortage has been a grating problem for decades. But that worker shortage has kicked into high gear, and experts anticipate the gap will widen from approximately 61,000 to more than 100,000 by 2023. The shortfall of qualified CDL-holders appears to be escalating from a problem to a full-blown crisis.
Industry experts at the American Trucking Associations indicate the country requires upwards of 110,000 new drivers to replace those exiting the industry each year. That means the country will need 1.1 million truckers over the next decade, and hiring rates aren’t even close.
“Over the past 15 years, we’ve watched the shortage rise and fall with economic trends, but it ballooned last year to the highest level we’ve seen to date,” ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello reportedly said. “The combination of a surging freight economy and carriers’ need for qualified drivers could severely disrupt the supply chain. The increase in the driver shortage should be a warning to carriers, shippers, and policymakers because if conditions don’t change substantively, our industry could be short just over 100,000 drivers in (2023) and 160,000 drivers in 2028.”
Looming questions involve how the industry fell behind despite wide-reaching jobs that offer good salaries and unresolved issues such as the following.
- Increased Demand: More than 70 percent of U.S. goods and materials are transported by truck. Increased population and consumer demands place a strain on trucking supply chains year-over-year.
- Retirements: The average age of a truck driver is above 50, compared to 42 in the overall workforce. Given the federal government refused to allow adults between 18 and 21 years old to haul freight over state lines, entry-level truckers average 30 years old.
- Shorter Runs: The rise of e-commerce has opened opportunities for professional drivers to earn high wages locally and regionally. Being able to go home each night remains an attractive benefit.
All of these seemingly insurmountable problems have matching solutions. The question is whether leaders want to do what it takes to cure the trucker shortage before inflation sends the country into a tailspin. The following rank among the viable solutions that could prevent a crisis by 2023
- Younger Workforce: There have been rumblings that Congress will allow 18-year-olds to secure paid apprenticeships. Upstarts drivers would be subject to possessing enhanced safety equipment. If a measure clears infrastructure spending legislation hurdles, new rules could begin closing the driver shortage gap.
Truck drivers also experience burnout due to physical and mental health challenges. Improving infrastructure such as safe truck stops with healthy menus and communication technologies to maintain bonds with loved ones may be game-changers. Attracting truck drivers to meet rising consumer demands requires immediate action from industry leaders and elected officials.
Source: trucking.com
Want to attract and keep drivers? Stop treating drivers like another mechanical part of the truck. Pay drivers for ALL of the work we do: pretrip/posttrip inspections, drop/hook, scaling, securing and adjusting loads, fueling, waiting on a customer’s dock. Everyone else in the company gets paid for all of their time. Why not drivers? Justify 14 hour days as the norm for drivers. No one can when no one else in the company puts in more than, MAYBE, 9 or 10 hours. Most drivers can’t tell you what day they’ll be getting home, let alone what time. Treat drivers like people who have actual lives away from the road and see what happens to recruiting and retention.