Trucking industry needs thousands of drivers but economics can be challenging
HOUSTON - The holiday shopping season means more products and packages are being hauled across the country by truck, as some voices in the industry say there's a shortage of drivers to do the work. The American Journal of Transportation points to a study suggesting the industry needs 80,000 new drivers to make up for an ongoing shortage. The trick is in training those drivers, and convincing them it's worth the effort.
At Lone Star College's Transportation Institute in Spring, would-be drivers are learning how to handle these multi-ton machines. They are driven by the expectation of opportunity that the seven-week course will give them the foundation for a career on the road. "This is a profession," says lead instructor Martin Molina, "It's not just a regular guy driving a truck. They are held to a higher standard."
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Cedric LaRue is one of those students. He already owns a one-truck company but has hired drivers, in the past. Now, he wants to be able to do it himself. "Trust me, it's more difficult than what you think."
There are a lot of reasons for the shortage. Most notably: an aging workforce and lifestyle preferences that don't include long distances on the road. It's hard work. "You don't have any clue, as far as all the things they have to pay attention to inside that truck; shifting gears; maintaining safety for themselves and other people on the road," says LaRue.
Tharon Harris, owner of T-Harris Transportation, offers a dose of reality, "I never thought it would be this hard."
We first met Harris at the height of the pandemic, when business was pretty good and he was running five rigs on the road. Three years later, he has downsized and diversified.
With one rig and a couple of hot-shot trucks, he also rents sporty three-wheel Slingshot vehicles and a party bus. He says it's expensive and difficult to keep his rigs and drivers on the road. "There is business out there, it's just hard to fulfill demand because rates are so low," he says, With rates being low, it's hard to keep drivers."
A lot of this is about perspective. While the American Trucking Association says driver pay is up double digits since 2020, much of that comes from trucking firms that employ fleets. The economics can be very different for smaller operators, where the cost of keeping the rig on the road, against what they earn per mile, can make it difficult to break even.
Either way, demand continues for product to be moved, and for drivers to get it where it's going.