American Trucking Associations' chief economist issues warning on truck driver shortage
11/1/2021
By Grace Connatser, Associate Editor
The American Trucking Associations' chief economist says the freight transportation industry is headed down a perilous road if driver shortages are not soon resolved.
ATA’s chief economist Bob Costello told reporters during an Oct. 25 briefing the organization has been working to recruit more women and younger people to work as long-haul truck drivers. Because of drivers' increasing average age and an uptick in retirements, trucking companies need to step up their recruiting efforts and improve work conditions to better suit young people and women, Costello said.
"This is a warning to the entire supply chain — to the motor carriers, to shippers, everybody," he said. The current supply chain issues affecting the trucking industry could get much worse if left unresolved, he added.
Although the driver shortage has plagued the trucking industry for years, it's been particularly acute the past two years due to a variety of factors, including increased demand for freight, early retirements, and a variety of coronavirus pandemic challenges.
"A thing to note about the shortage is that before the pandemic, we were adding drivers to the industry — even though we had a shortage, more people were entering the industry," Costello said in an Oct. 25 press release.
That said, the lifestyle of the long-haul trucker isn’t quite as attractive to younger workers, who want to be home more often, he said.
Currently, the trucking industry is short 80,000 workers — an all-time high — and the total could climb to 100,000 within a decade and 160,000 by 2030, according to an ATA press release. While trucking companies are still attracting people to the industry, they're struggling to keep up with the need for services as demand for goods increases and supply chain bottlenecks persist.
"Over the next 10 years, we have to attract roughly just under 1 million people that are not driving trucks today," Costello said. “We need to figure out how to get a lot of people into this occupation."
ATA is searching for solutions to change the “structural lifestyle issues” truckers have learned to live with for decades because they’re unattractive to younger recruits, Costello said. Help could come from legislation introduced in Congress in 2019: If signed into law, the DRIVE-Safe Act would allow the U.S. Department of Transportation to implement an apprenticeship program for commercial truck drivers under the age of 21.
“The solution to the driver shortage will most certainly require increased pay, regulatory changes and modifications to shippers’, receivers’ and carriers’ business practices to improve conditions for drivers,” according to ATA's Driver Shortage Update 2021, issued Oct. 25. Lowering the federal minimum age to drive across states lines, which is 21, is a change that could "alter the industry dynamics positively," according to the report.
Average weekly earnings for truck drivers have gone up more than five times the historical average since 2000, Costello said, citing U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers, but employment is flat-lining for long-haul companies. While the employment rate climbed in 2019, it fell sharply after the pandemic and has not recovered. That said, local trucking — which allows drivers to come home every night — is seeing an uptick in employment because it requires similar training and certifications, Costello said. Meanwhile, companies are facing fierce competition from van couriers such as Amazon Prime, which allow drivers to work on their own time and near their homes.
The industry also needs to reach out to women and minorities, Costello said. Women drivers are particularly good recruiters: They can talk about "life on the road" in ways male recruiters can’t, he said.
"Almost every fleet you talk to, they love female drivers,” Costello said. “They're safe, they're reliable, they're dependable."
