{"id":7077,"date":"2022-01-21T16:34:19","date_gmt":"2022-01-21T16:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=7077"},"modified":"2022-01-21T16:34:19","modified_gmt":"2022-01-21T16:34:19","slug":"where-have-all-the-truck-drivers-gone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=7077","title":{"rendered":"Where have all the truck drivers gone?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\n“Long-haul driving, in particular, can be grueling, with lengthy wait times that aren\u2019t compensated and other costs to being out on a route for stretches at a time. \u201cWhy do people not want to become truck drivers? That\u2019s the situation, or the root of the issue. And the reason for that is it\u2019s a shitty job,\u201d said Hanno Friedrich, associate professor of freight transportation at K\u00fchne Logistics University.”
…
“The first thing to know about the truck driver shortage, experts said, is that it\u2019s not exactly a shortage. \u201cIt\u2019s a recruitment and retention problem,\u201d said Michael Belzer, a trucking industry expert at Wayne State University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the US, \u201cthere are in fact millions of truck drivers \u2014 people who have commercial driver\u2019s licenses \u2014 who are not driving trucks and are not using those commercial driving licenses, more than we would even need,\u201dBelzer said. \u201cThat\u2019s because people have gotten recruited into this job, maybe paid to get trained in this job, and realize, \u2018This is not for me. This is not adequate for what I\u2019m doing.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to recruitment, it\u2019s hard to get people into the business, especially young people. There\u2019s often a gap between when people leave school (say, age 18) and when they can legally drive a truck across state lines(typically age 21), which means those folks may have already found jobs and aren\u2019t going to be wooed away to become truckers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are other barriers to entry, like schooling (the costs of which can vary) and the ability to obtain a special class of driver\u2019s license. Around the world, training and testing for truck drivers stalled because of Covid-19 lockdowns<\/a>. The industry also struggles to attract women into the workforce because of safety concerns and inadequate accommodations along routes and at rest stops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But truck driving alsoisn\u2019tthe job it used to be. In the United States, for example, deregulation of the industry<\/a>, which accelerated in the 1980s, alongside the decline of unions, means trucker wages have been shrinking for years. But the work itself hasn\u2019t really changed. It involves long hours, and a lot of that can be time spent uncompensated. \u201cYou could spend all day or a day and a night waiting around to get a load at a port site offloaded and loaded up, and you\u2019re not getting paid for any of that time,\u201d said Matthew Hockenberry, a professor at Fordham University who studies the media of global production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This feeds not just into the recruitment problem, but also the retention problem. Truck drivers are burned out. Long-haul drivers, especially \u2014 that is, those who are moving cargo long distances or across states \u2014 typically get paid for the trips they take, and they have to go where the cargo needs to go, with little control over when and where. \u201cThe route is the route,\u201d as Weaver put it.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The toughness of being a truck driver \u2014 the long hours, the treks, the waiting at ports or warehouses to get the goods \u2014 isn\u2019t an accident. It\u2019s mostly a consequence of being caught up in the demands of the modern supply chain, the one that is under so much pressure now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experts told me that even as wages for truckers have declined, shipping and logistics companies are increasing their rates. But that hasn\u2019t really trickled down to the truck drivers\u2019 pockets. \u201cThe trucking companies fight over the scraps. And the drivers fight over the scraps left over after the trucking companies fight over it. All of this cascades down, and the most powerful party here is always the one to win,\u201d Belzer said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, he added, when it came to truckers: \u201cBecause of where they stand in the power relations throughout the supply chain, they\u2019re the least powerful people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experts and those involved in the trucking industry said wages for truckers have ticked up because of the labor demand in this stage of the pandemic, just as they have in other parts of the labor market in the US. There may be good signing bonuses to be had, too. But truckers don\u2019t have a say in the routes they drive, or how long it takes for their cargo to be offloaded at a port. The job remains difficult, and it might not be enough. “https:\/\/www.vox.com\/22841783\/truck-drivers-shortage-supply-chain-pandemic<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Long-haul driving, in particular, can be grueling, with lengthy wait times that aren\u2019t compensated and other costs to being out on a route for stretches at a time. \u201cWhy do people not want to become truck drivers? That\u2019s the situation, or the root of the issue. And the reason for that is it\u2019s a shitty job,\u201d said Hanno Friedrich, associate professor of freight transportation at K\u00fchne Logistics University.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“The first thing to know about the truck driver shortage, experts said, is that it\u2019s not exactly a shortage. \u201cIt\u2019s a recruitment and retention problem,\u201d said Michael Belzer, a trucking industry expert at Wayne State University.
\nIn the US, \u201cthere are in fact millions of truck drivers \u2014 people who have commercial driver\u2019s licenses \u2014 who are not driving trucks and are not using those commercial driving licenses, more than we would even need,\u201d Belzer said. \u201cThat\u2019s because people have gotten recruited into this job, maybe paid to get trained in this job, and realize, \u2018This is not for me. This is not adequate for what I\u2019m doing.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes to recruitment, it\u2019s hard to get people into the business, especially young people. There\u2019s often a gap between when people leave school (say, age 18) and when they can legally drive a truck across state lines (typically age 21), which means those folks may have already found jobs and aren\u2019t going to be wooed away to become truckers.<\/p>\n

There are other barriers to entry, like schooling (the costs of which can vary) and the ability to obtain a special class of driver\u2019s license. Around the world, training and testing for truck drivers stalled because of Covid-19 lockdowns. The industry also struggles to attract women into the workforce because of safety concerns and inadequate accommodations along routes and at rest stops.<\/p>\n

But truck driving also isn\u2019t the job it used to be. In the United States, for example, deregulation of the industry, which accelerated in the 1980s, alongside the decline of unions, means trucker wages have been shrinking for years. But the work itself hasn\u2019t really changed. It involves long hours, and a lot of that can be time spent uncompensated. \u201cYou could spend all day or a day and a night waiting around to get a load at a port site offloaded and loaded up, and you\u2019re not getting paid for any of that time,\u201d said Matthew Hockenberry, a professor at Fordham University who studies the media of global production.<\/p>\n

This feeds not just into the recruitment problem, but also the retention problem. Truck drivers are burned out. Long-haul drivers, especially \u2014 that is, those who are moving cargo long distances or across states \u2014 typically get paid for the trips they take, and they have to go where the cargo needs to go, with little control over when and where. \u201cThe route is the route,\u201d as Weaver put it.” <\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“The toughness of being a truck driver \u2014 the long hours, the treks, the waiting at ports or warehouses to get the goods \u2014 isn\u2019t an accident. It\u2019s mostly a consequence of being caught up in the demands of the modern supply chain, the one that is under so much pressure now.<\/p>\n

Experts told me that even as wages for truckers have declined, shipping and logistics companies are increasing their rates. But that hasn\u2019t really trickled down to the truck drivers\u2019 pockets. \u201cThe trucking companies fight over the scraps. And the drivers fight over the scraps left over after the trucking companies fight over it. All of this cascades down, and the most powerful party here is always the one to win,\u201d Belzer said.<\/p>\n

And, he added, when it came to truckers: \u201cBecause of where they stand in the power relations throughout the supply chain, they\u2019re the least powerful people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Experts and those involved in the trucking industry said wages for truckers have ticked up because of the labor demand in this stage of the pandemic, just as they have in other parts of the labor market in the US. There may be good signing bonuses to be had, too. But truckers don\u2019t have a say in the routes they drive, or how long it takes for their cargo to be offloaded at a port. The job remains difficult, and it might not be enough.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[1419,271,448,1426,628,1410],"class_list":["post-7077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-drivers","tag-jobs","tag-licensing","tag-logistics","tag-shortage","tag-trucking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7077"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7078,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7077\/revisions\/7078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}