Trucker shortage grows
By Hugh R. Morley, The Record (Hackensack, N.J.) | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
Trucking companies are offering a variety of inducements, including signing bonuses, training and family-friendly work schedules in an effort to attract good candidates and draw new workers into an industry whose luster has dimmed, when it was once considered a relatively well-paid and stable blue-collar job that did not require a high level of education.
Yet for all employers' efforts, they are still struggling to fill positions, and shipping and logistics companies are finding it difficult to line up trucks to move goods, said
"Everybody in the trucking industry is seeing it," Heimgartner said. "It's preventing us from growing. We would certainly put on more business if we had drivers."
In
Toth, and others, predict that as the economy improves, and demand for trucking services surges, the driver shortages will get worse, creating delays in the delivery of food, products and raw materials that are key to growth in the economy. The federal government reported that the economy grew at an annual rate of 4 percent in the second quarter, a figure that, although likely to be revised, was widely seen as a sign that the economy is picking up.
"There is a lot of concern in the industry that there is not going to be enough drivers," Toth said. "Things aren't going to get delivered when they should be."
Heimgartner shares those concerns.
"As the economy rebounds, we are just not getting enough drivers to fill the seats," Heimgartner said.
"The trucking capacity is limited by the number of drivers, so rates are going up. The shippers are having a harder time finding a truck, and that leads to delays in the supply chain," he said.
Help-wanted ads posted in recent weeks posted online show employers' efforts to find drivers. An advertisement by
On
A higher-than-anticipated driver turnover, and the number of trucks without drivers, prompted
"We believe the best investment we can make at this time, for all of our stakeholders, is in our drivers," the company said, adding that that would have to include "enhanced pay packages."
Not all companies feel the same way, however.
"I usually have more than enough candidates," said
Industry analysts say the shortage predates the recession, and has played out across the nation for years as the trucking industry -- like other blue-collar sectors, such as the construction trades -- has found itself increasingly populated with older workers because younger ones don't find the job attractive.
The trucking association said the median age of a truck driver is 47, and more than a million new drivers will be needed in the next decade, mainly due to retirements. There no age limit imposed on drivers.
The biggest shortages in the past have been for long-haul truck drivers, who generally earn the best wages but spend days or even weeks on the road, which turns many workers -- particularly those with families -- away from the industry.
Analysts hoped the economic downturn and high unemployment would help address the problem, by pushing the jobless to consider truck driving, said
"Folks went into the industry, realized how difficult it was, and quit," she said.
Employment in the
Toth said drivers' greatest frustrations include the multitude of tests, regulations and restrictions placed on truck drivers by authorities seeking to avoid accidents and improve safety.
The dangers were highlighted by a spate of accidents in
Trucking advocates say the burdens on drivers were increased by the introduction a year ago of federal rules that require drivers to take a 30-minute break during the first eight hours of a shift.
The rules also reduced the permissible workweek for drivers to 70 hours, after which they must rest for 34 hours, including two nights, before driving again. Those changes reduced driver productivity and boosted demand for drivers, advocates say.
"There is a myriad of different regulations that have made it difficult for us to get the same level of production out of a driver than we would have before," said
Part of the difficulty for drivers and employers is that infringements of the regulations are documented on a driver's record, which can make it tougher for them to get hired by employers who are looking for drivers with clean records, and find them hard to come by.
Toth, of the
The disappearance of those areas makes it difficult for drivers to stop and take the rest breaks required by federal laws, and adds to the pressure that makes truck driving a high-stress, high frustration work environment, she said.
"It's just being overdone," Toth said. "It's like overkill now.
"The piling on, to just being a truck driver today, has caused these guys to think, 'I don't need to be harassed,'" she said. "They are bailing. It's easier to be a construction worker."
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