US Midwest. – Currently, the U.S. unemployment rate is below his 4%. In many states, that number is significantly lower. Low unemployment is great for the economy, but it’s wreaking havoc on the trucking industry looking for jobs that require a truck driver and her CDL (Commercial Driver’s License).
James Walker Truck industry expert says low unemployment will open up more employment opportunities for those looking for work. Unfortunately, it also reduces the number of his CDL drivers on the road.
“All the baby boomers out there are either retiring or pushing the days, and the industry requires a lot of travel, which prevents many from wanting to be truck drivers,” Walker said. said.
In the Midwest, a waste management company was recently fined by the city for failing to collect trash. The company said it needed more drivers to fulfill the route and started offering contract bonuses. As the global economy strengthened, the demand for trucks to carry goods outstripped the supply of drivers, causing freight forwarders to charge higher rates and companies to raise the prices of their products by as much as 20% in some cases. I’m here.
Other companies across the country are dealing with delivery delays. There has been a shortage of drivers for some time, the younger generation’s interest in the industry has waned, and wages for hours away from home have been incomparable. Driver burnout is also a problem facing large fleets, with turnover rising to 95% annualized last year, according to the latest figures.
According to the American Trucking Association, the country is facing a record shortage of 50,000 drivers to meet current demand.
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Many companies now offer hefty sign-on bonuses as an incentive. But most drivers just switch from one company to another instead of fixing the shortage.
Darren Hawkins, chief executive of YRC Trucks, the largest U.S. freight forwarding company, said the severity of the shortage means women, youth and minorities need to be able to reach her CDL easily. I said I will. “There’s a problem with the industry, which means it has to do a better job of attracting new people to the driving profession that were previously unreachable,” Hawkins said. “Right now, the American Trucking Association says we are short of tens of thousands of drivers, and that number will continue to grow.
Trucking companies facing record driver shortages are “adjusting out of necessity,” said Kevin Reid, founder of the National Minority Trucking Association. “The industry hasn’t focused on hiring and retaining the next generation,” Reed said. “Trucking is an industry that needs to be rebranded. In the 1970s and he in the 1980s, trucking had a cool factor. It’s about how you can reach them.”
Her driver, Christina Jackson, a 22-year-old African-American trucker based in Raleigh, North Carolina, is exactly the type of person the trucking industry wants to attract. After she graduated from college, she wanted to get a job that would allow her to travel and be financially independent. She never considered trucking until her boyfriend’s father, who is a truck driver, encouraged her to try.
It’s been a year since she started driving, but she’s constantly reminded that she’s an industry maverick.
“People were shocked at my gender and age when they found out I had a trucking job,” she said. “The first thing that comes to mind is an older white man. People often say, ‘You don’t look like a trucker.'” I say, “What does a trucker look like?” “
Ms. Jackson personally recruited 10 of her 20-something friends, she added, as she thought it would be easy to convince more young people to join the industry. But she believes recruiters to date have done a poor job of introducing young truck drivers to the industry.
“When people think of truck drivers, they don’t look at us,” Jackson said of the young driver.
According to her 2017 report published by the American Trucking Association, women and minorities make up a small percentage of all truck drivers. Her 94% of drivers are male and her two-thirds of all drivers are white.
