Thread: Plan to remedy truck-driver shortage receives applause

Plan to remedy truck-driver shortage receives applause

New bill to create pilot program that will allow younger CDL holders to cross state lines.

Robert Fucci | June 26, 2015


The hiring of CDL truck drivers is projected to grow 11% through 2022.

The trucking industry has been plagued by a shortage of drivers for years.

According to the American Trucking Association, the industry is short 35,000 to 40,000 drivers, and the industry's companies will need to recruit 100,000 drivers per year for the next 10 years to keep pace with the country's freight needs.

But thanks to a bill co-sponsored by Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), more drivers may soon be on the road.

The bill, titled "The Commercial Driver Act," will create jobs and address the growing shortage of commercial truck drivers by lowering the age at which commercial drivers can operate across state lines.

"In each of the continental United States, a person can get a commercial driver's license and drive a truck at the age of 18, but federal law prevents them from driving across state lines until they reach the age of 21," ATA President and CEO Bill Graves said in a statement. "It is illogical that a 20-year-old can drive the 500 miles from San Francisco to San Diego, but not the 8 miles from Memphis, Tennessee to West Memphis, Arkansas – or simply cross the street in Texarkana. Even more illogical is that a 20-year-old may not drive a truck in any state if the cargo in it originated outside the state or will eventually leave the state by some other means."

The legislation will also create more job openings for recent high school graduates.

"As our population grows and our freight demands increase, we are going to need more drivers. The Commercial Driver Act helps solve two problems by expanding the pool of eligible drivers and creating employment opportunities for younger Americans," Graves said.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, hiring of truck drivers with a commercial drivers license (CDL) is expected to grow 11% through 2022 due to a rising demand for goods. Oil and gas industries also will need more drivers to transport materials to and from mining sites.

The average annual salary for CDL truck drivers is just over $48,000, PayScale.com reports.

Click here for a full list of CDL truck driver job openings found on Monster.

http://www.monster.com/transportatio..._Transp_150703

Why not just pay them more?

Originally Posted by artclam

Why not just pay them more?

If you pay drivers more the cost of shipping cross country by truck goes up and more companies would ship cross country by train taking business away from the trucking companies who would then need fewer drivers.

http://www.alipac.us/f19/why-railroa...ervice-320547/

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

If you pay drivers more the cost of shipping cross country by truck goes up and more companies would ship cross country by train taking business away from the trucking companies who would then need fewer drivers.

Sounds like free enterprise at work to me.

Might be less demand for goods if the border was secure - - - and population was controlled. Band-aids instead of solutions, again?

This company's solution to the current truck driver shortage is to recruit more women

• by David Z. Morris

• @davidzmorris

JUNE 26, 2015, 5:44 PM EDT

Ryder is partnering with the nonprofit Women in Trucking to help make the industry more welcoming to women drivers.

“Why don’t you go back to the kitchen where you belong?”

When Gay Cooper first started driving trucks over a decade ago, she says she’d occasionally hear comments like that from male truckers.

She’s also overcome physical challenges, such as seats too long for her 5 foot, two-inch frame (“You can feel like the blood circulation getting cut off from your legs”), and concerns about her safety.

Cooper didn’t let any of it faze her. But the trucking industry, facing a growing labor shortage, wants to remove challenges keeping women from getting behind the wheel. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 5.8% of truck drivers were women in 2014—lower than the percentage of female construction managers or mechanical engineers.

Ryder Dedicated, a logistics outsourcing division of Ryder System Inc., is working to change that. For a start, they’ve partnered with the nonprofit advocacy group Women in Trucking to guide cab manufacturers in making trucks themselves more adaptable. Among other things, that means adjustable seats and pedals for shorter drivers, lower steps for accessing both cabs and freight, and less fatiguing automatic transmissions. Those improvements don’t just benefit women, as the driver population is also aging—now averaging 55—according to BLS.

Security measures also benefit more than just women—all long-haul truckers can be vulnerable to violence or theft as they sleep in their trucks, often in isolated rest stops. Volvo is among manufacturers that now offers trucks with an alarm system to deter intruders while the cab is stationary. That would have been a boon for Lillie McGee Drennan, who in 1929 became the first woman to earn a commercial driver’s license—and purportedly carried a pistol for safety on the road.

Other solutions are trickier. According to Ellen Voie, CEO of Women in Trucking, women truck drivers are less likely to wear their safety belts than men, for basic physical reasons. A belt redesigned for women’s comfort and safety is still in the future.

But less tangible factors may be the most intractable. Trucking’s image as a profession for men hasn’t changed, even in a world full of female lawyers, doctors, and soldiers. Then there’s the weeks spent away from home. Gay Cooper was a long haul trucker for years, but she jumped when Ryder offered her the chance to drive shorter routes that would take her home to her grandchildren every night.

On the other hand, Sylvia Chavez, 25, says the job has advantages women should consider. “If you want a low stress environment, not deal with any kind of drama, this is the place to be . . . To a certain degree you’re your own boss.” Voie also points out that trucking also offers decent pay without requiring a college degree.

John Diez, President of Ryder Dedicated, says the decision to cater to women is “absolutely” a response to the driver shortage. But the program is still in its early stages, and so far the company’s percentage of female drivers is still in line with industry averages.

The coming year will bring more aggressive outreach and recruiting efforts.

Voie claims she has recently seen an increase in women in the profession overall. That’s likely related to social attitudes that are finally changing a bit—Chavez reports much improved attitudes from male colleagues.

That shifting culture could have a big benefit in offsetting wage pressure on trucking companies. There could also be broader social benefits: According to the Transportation Research Board, extensive research has shown that women are more cautious drivers than men.

http://fortune.com/2015/06/26/ryder-...truck-drivers/