Not often has a single problem in trucking permeated each side of the business’s successes and failures as has the truck driver scarcity. Whereas the difficulty is a perennial “Prime 10” problem on the American Transportation Analysis Institute’s (ATRI) annual survey of vital points in trucking, the truck driver scarcity has skilled the right storm of rising pressures. Exterior pressures embrace two straight years of a trucking business recession, rising value facilities led by insurance coverage and regulatory prices, legalization of marijuana and the persevering with retirement of child boomers and soon-to-be Gen Xers.
One other 800-pound gorilla within the room is the business’s poor picture among the many common populous. Individuals unfamiliar with how subtle new truck tractors are, or how effectively truck drivers are paid, nonetheless have an impression that trucking is a dinosaur business caught within the twentieth century. In actuality, trendy vans are loaded with cutting-edge applied sciences and security programs. New over-the-road (OTR) vans have sleeper berths which have each conceivable luxurious {that a} small residence might need. Moreover, truck driver compensation has gone up yearly by double digits the previous couple of years. Walmart introduced that anybody with a Class A industrial drivers license and two years of excellent driving historical past can begin at $106,000 a yr.
However nonetheless many driver seats sit empty. Previous to this latest trucking business recession, there wasn’t a motor service within the nation who didn’t flip down a worthwhile income load as a result of they couldn’t transfer the truck from Location A to Location B. In ATRI’s Prime Trade Points survey, the truck driver scarcity has been the No. 1 problem for motor service executives in 5 of the final seven experiences. Nonetheless, it’s nowhere to be seen on the truck drivers’ Prime 10 listing.
American Transportation Analysis Institute (ATRI)
Whereas the truck driver scarcity is a transparent actuality for motor carriers, there are teachers and even truck driver associations who insist that, from a technical standpoint, the truck driver scarcity just isn’t actual. The logic being that, as soon as all of the myriad points referenced above are addressed, the truck drivers will come racing again into trucking. Whether or not that’s true or not, the problems that dissuade folks from coming into, or staying in trucking should not insignificant.
Trucker Retirements are Rising
A big share of Child Boomers are retiring from truck driving jobs, and Gen Xers, first born in 1965, are beginning the identical course of. The American Trucking Associations (ATA) now estimates that the business’s driver scarcity immediately is sort of 80,000 drivers and rising.
American Transportation Analysis Institute (ATRI)
By trying on the numbers, it’s clear that the business does have a loyal veteran driver base. With a median age of 49, truckload drivers are the nation’s oldest main labor sector in america, based mostly on Bureau of Census information.
American Transportation Analysis Institute (ATRI)
Legalization of Marijuana
Most outsiders are shocked to study that state legalization of pot has put a critical crimp in trucking. Practically 45 states have legalized pot for medicinal functions, and 28 states have legalized it for leisure use. And all the nation of Canada legally permits to partake in pot utilization. So, it’s arduous for many individuals to grasp that marijuana continues to be on the federal “Schedule 1” listing of prohibited substances.
Truck drivers who assume it’s okay to smoke pot in a “authorized” state will rapidly uncover they’re out of a job as a truck driver. In some situations, truck drivers are blind to the battle between federal and state legal guidelines, and others are actively selecting to surrender their interstate driving jobs. Based on the FMCSA’s Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse, greater than 130,000 truck drivers have examined optimistic for THC and haven’t began their return-to-duty course of. Most business insiders acknowledge that these drivers should not coming again to Class A truck driving; it’s too simple to ditch the CDL, drive regionally and proceed to eat the brownies.
The place are the Girls?
Girls signify greater than 47% of the U.S. workforce, however information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics present they’re solely 6-8% of the truck driver inhabitants. Current ATRI analysis mined that information and found a far worse actuality; when gender is damaged out by CDL class, ladies truck drivers have been lower than 3% of the Class A CDL (OTR truck drivers).
It is a twofold disaster for trucking: not solely are ladies severely under-represented in driver jobs, however ATRI security analysis discovered that ladies truck drivers have fewer violations than their male counterparts in each statistically important violation class and have 14% fewer crashes than male truck drivers. By rising the variety of ladies in trucking, the business can cut back the motive force scarcity AND enhance roadway security.
Regulatory Pressures are Appreciable
The trucking business has twice been economically deregulated by the federal government, however it’s nonetheless one of the vital extremely regulated industries from a security and operational perspective. The necessities on carriers and drivers relate to driver well being and wellness, automobile necessities, monetary and insurance coverage necessities, and lots of of associated Federal Motor Provider Security Laws (FMCSRs). In reality, a earlier U.S. DOT Inspector Common’s audit discovered that there have been greater than 600 completely different FMCSRs on the books. Separate ATRI analysis, based mostly on greater than 500,000 CDL motorized vehicle data, discovered that on solely 25-30 truck driver violations had a statistical relationship to crashes (ATRI Crash Predictor report). The regulatory pressures typically translate to greater prices for each carriers and truck drivers. Regardless that the business was in a recession in 2023, the monetary information reveals that per-mile working prices have been on the highest in ATRI’s decade-old historical past of amassing and analyzing detailed monetary information. The combination of excessive prices and a delicate financial system drove carriers out of enterprise in document numbers in 2024. In reality, a earlier report by the U.S. Authorities Accountability Workplace discovered that of the 754 FMCSA rules, roughly 160 rules can be utilized in predicting crash danger.
American Transportation Analysis Institute (ATRI)
Detention Harms Retention
There is no such thing as a scarcity of urgent points that negatively influence the truck driver scarcity. One problem getting new consideration from each Congress and the business is truck driver detention at buyer amenities. A congressionally required research, performed by the Nationwide Academy of Science, discovered that driver detention was ubiquitous throughout america and was notably unhealthy at meals and produce amenities; reefer truck drivers have been detained considerably longer and extra continuously than all different sectors of trucking.
ATRI analysis on driver detention, launched in 2024, discovered that detained truck drivers drove 14% quicker than non-detained drivers. However except for the protection ramifications, truck drivers pressured to attend at buyer amenities don’t make a dime in compensation, as most OTR drivers are paid by the mile.
Mild on the Finish of the Tunnel?
Whereas the truck driver scarcity, at the very least from a service’s perspective, is worse now than ever, the eye and assets wanted to mitigate the problems referenced above, are additionally at an all-time excessive. The ATA, together with the 50 state trucking associations, have developed quite a few methods for bettering the business’s picture, highlighting the brand new realities and advantages related to driving a truck within the 21st century, and partnering with authorities companies to cut back the impediments related to CDL coaching and testing.
With the financial system anticipated to favorably flip in 2025, there’s no time to lose in prepping and retaining the following technology of truck drivers.
