The U.S. Truck Driver Shortage PDF Download

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Truck drivers
Languages : en
Pages : 82

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Author: Steve Viscelli
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520962710
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 285

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Long-haul trucks have been described as sweatshops on wheels. The typical long-haul trucker works the equivalent of two full-time jobs, often for little more than minimum wage. But it wasn’t always this way. Trucking used to be one of the best working-class jobs in the United States. The Big Rig explains how this massive degradation in the quality of work has occurred, and how companies achieve a compliant and dedicated workforce despite it. Drawing on more than 100 in-depth interviews and years of extensive observation, including six months training and working as a long-haul trucker, Viscelli explains in detail how labor is recruited, trained, and used in the industry. He then shows how inexperienced workers are convinced to lease a truck and to work as independent contractors. He explains how deregulation and collective action by employers transformed trucking’s labor markets--once dominated by the largest and most powerful union in US history--into an important example of the costs of contemporary labor markets for workers and the general public.

Author: Institute for Career Research
Publisher: Independently Published
ISBN: 9781794440173
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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ONE OF THE MOST IN-DEMAND OCCUPATIONS today is truck driver. Truckers drive heavy-duty trucks and tractor-trailers on local routes or across North America. Trucks convey more than 70 percent of domestic freight. The demand for truckers who can deliver the goods continues to grow from e-commerce vendors such as Amazon and major retailers like Walmart. The $738 billion trucking industry supports more than seven million jobs (including more than three million drivers), according to industry statistics. There may be as many as 3.5 million truck drivers in the United States, hauling over 10 billion tons of freight in one year. Still, transportation companies are unable to find enough skilled, qualified drivers to meet their customers' demands. The trucker shortage is expected to worsen as more veteran drivers retire in coming years. As a result of steady demand, the job outlook and pay for truckers continues to be strong. The median salary for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers is about $45,000 according to government statistics. However, a recent survey by the American Trucking Associations found the median salary for a national truckload driver exceeds $55,000, while private fleet drivers report earning as much as $85,000 annually. Employment is expected to grow rapidly in the coming decade. The Commercial Vehicle Training Association (CVTA) states the industry faces a shortage of almost 40,000 drivers each year, and that shortfall could reach over 100,000. Would a trucking career be right for you? Most employers require a high school diploma or GED to get started, as well as a certificate from a professional truck driving school. You will also have to obtain a commercial driver's license from the state where you live, which requires written and driving tests, a clean driving record, and regular physical exams. The profession requires good physical health, stamina, and a solid driving record. Most truckers work for transportation companies, but some are self-¬employed. Would you like to work independently, outside an office setting? Do you like to travel? Would you be able to handle the stress of long days battling traffic and bad weather? Do you prefer the solitude of working alone, or to team up with a driving partner? Would the loneliness of being away from home days, even weeks at a time be undesirable? Driving a truck is not for everyone, but if you enjoy being on the open highway, you can enjoy a financially rewarding career in this industry. A combination of training, hard work, aptitude, and positive personal traits can help you achieve the personal and professional satisfaction in the trucking field.

Author: Finn Murphy
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393608727
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 167

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“There’s nothing semi about Finn Murphy’s trucking tales of The Long Haul.”—Sloane Crosley, Vanity Fair More than thirty years ago, Finn Murphy dropped out of college to become a long-haul trucker. Since then he’s covered more than a million miles as a mover, packing, loading, hauling people’s belongings all over America. In The Long Haul, Murphy recounts with wit, candor, and charm the America he has seen change over the decades and the poignant, funny, and often haunting stories of the people he encounters on the job.

Author: Michael H. Belzer
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780195128864
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Long hours, low wages, and unsafe workplaces characterized sweatshops a hundred years ago. These same conditions plague American trucking today. Sweatshops on Wheels: Winners and Losers in Trucking Deregulation exposes the dark side of government deregulation in America's interstate trucking industry. In the years since deregulation in 1980, median earnings have dropped 30% and most long-haul truckers earn less than half of pre-regulation wages. Work weeks average more than sixty hours. Today, America's long-haul truckers are working harder and earning less than at any time during the last four decades. Written by a former long-haul trucker who now teaches industrial relations at Wayne State University, Sweatshops on Wheels raises crucial questions about the legacy of trucking deregulation in America and casts provocative new light on the issue of government deregulation in general.

Author: Timothy J. Richards
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Media and industry reports maintain that the U.S. long-distance trucking market is experiencing a shortage of drivers, and that the shortage is expected to persist well into the future. At the same time, reports of supply-chain disruption throughout U.S. industry focus on a lack of transportation infrastructure, which generally means trucking in the U.S. Truck rates, or the per-mile rate charged for trucking services, rose substantially in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era, suggesting that the market was responding to market signals. However, the connection between labor shortages, rising truck rates, and an apparent lack of trucking services has yet to be established empirically. In this paper, we develop an empirical approach based on an equilibrium search-matching-and-bargaining framework in which we estimate the role of labor shortages in accelerating driver wages, and truck rates. We estimate the model by combining U.S. Bureau of Census Current Population Survey data on truck drivers, with USDA-NASS data on truck rates, to establish the linkage between trucker-supply and the demand for trucking services. We find that the COVID-19 pandemic was responsible for a rise in for-hire trucker wages of some 38%, and a rise in average truck rates of nearly 50%, and that the gap between trucker-job openings and successful matches explains a significant, but small, rise in truck rates. Our empirical findings point to a fundamental mismatch in the skills required in the trucking industry, and the workers attracted to trucking as a profession. If market incentives are unable to attract more drivers to the industry, more public-option trucking schools are likely part of a long-term solution.

Author: William B. Johnston
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Truck drivers
Languages : en
Pages : 34

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Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309392527
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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There are approximately 4,000 fatalities in crashes involving trucks and buses in the United States each year. Though estimates are wide-ranging, possibly 10 to 20 percent of these crashes might have involved fatigued drivers. The stresses associated with their particular jobs (irregular schedules, etc.) and the lifestyle that many truck and bus drivers lead, puts them at substantial risk for insufficient sleep and for developing short- and long-term health problems. Commercial Motor Vehicle Driver Fatigue, Long-Term Health and Highway Safety assesses the state of knowledge about the relationship of such factors as hours of driving, hours on duty, and periods of rest to the fatigue experienced by truck and bus drivers while driving and the implications for the safe operation of their vehicles. This report evaluates the relationship of these factors to drivers' health over the longer term, and identifies improvements in data and research methods that can lead to better understanding in both areas.

Author: Stephen V. Burks
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 46

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The US trucking industry trade press often portrays the US labor market for truck drivers as not working, citing persistent driver shortages and high levels of firm-level turnover, and predicting significant resulting constraints on the supply of motor freight services. We investigate the truck driver labor market using three techniques. First, using data from the Occupational Employment Statistics of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we delineate the structure of the driver workforce.Second, from the same source we find that the trucking labor market has displayed some characteristics of a "tight" labor market since 2003: rising nominal wages, stable/growing employment, and lower rates of unemployment than other blue-collar jobs. Third, using data from the Current Population Survey we describe the occupations and industries from which drivers come and to which drivers go, when they change occupations, and statistically analyze these entries and exits. We find relatively high rates of occupational attachment among drivers, and importantly, we also find that truck drivers respond in the expected manner to differences in earnings across occupations.Finally, we point out that the issues discussed by the industry are concentrated in one segment of the overall market, that for drivers in long distance truckload (TL) motor freight, which contains between one sixth and one fourth of all heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers. These findings suggest a more nuanced view of this labor market. The market as a whole appears to work as well as any other blue-collar labor market, and while the truck driver market tends to be "tight," there do not appear to be any special constraints preventing entry into (or exit from) the occupation. There is thus no reason to think that driver supply should fail to respond to price signals in the standard way, given sufficient time. The persistent issues localized in the TL segment are not visible in the aggregate data, and require a distinct analysis.

Author: Anne Balay
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 1469647109
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 229

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Long-haul trucking is linked to almost every industry in America, yet somehow the working-class drivers behind big rigs remain largely hidden from public view. Gritty, inspiring, and often devastating oral histories of gay, transsexual, and minority truck drivers allow award-winning author Anne Balay to shed new light on the harsh realities of truckers' lives behind the wheel. A licensed commercial truck driver herself, Balay discovers that, for people routinely subjected to prejudice, hatred, and violence in their hometowns and in the job market, trucking can provide an opportunity for safety, welcome isolation, and a chance to be themselves--even as the low-wage work is fraught with tightening regulations, constant surveillance, danger, and exploitation. The narratives of minority and queer truckers underscore the working-class struggle to earn a living while preserving one's safety, dignity, and selfhood. Through the voices of drivers from marginalized communities who spend eleven- to fourteen-hour days hauling America's commodities in treacherous weather and across mountain passes, Semi Queer reveals the stark differences between the trucking industry's crushing labor practices and the perseverance of its most at-risk workers.