There is still concern regarding the truck driver shortage in our country. The scarcity of over-the-road truck drivers have been an ongoing concern for years. Truck driver jobs have been tougher to come by in recent months, especially due to the present status of the economy. The business tactics of many trucking businesses have created this phenomenon that has been known as the truck driver shortage.
There are still truck driver jobs available. What continues to keep this driver shortage topic alive, is the problem that so many beginners and even veteran drivers can often experience: locating the correct trucking firm. The current economy scenario has, without a doubt, pushed thousands of experienced truck drivers into the truck driver job search market. With an influx of seasoned, professional drivers suddenly hunting for a new employment, the ones who have felt the impact of the economy the most, are the student drivers just beginning into the trucking vocation. Now, with so many experienced drivers available, many trucking companies are not taking in trainees. As the economy stabilizes, which it will, this too will pass.
Recently, due to this influx, the talk of a truck driver shortage has faded. The fact is, there never was, or is, a truck driver shortage. The fault essentially lies with the trucking industry themselves. More particularly, their failure to alter the remuneration for OTR drivers. Until trucking businesses recognize the fact that there is a new wage rise reality in the truck driver market, the turn over rate among truck drivers will persist.
Why would someone want to endure the over the road trucking lifestyle for $35,000 per year, when they can make the same from an alternative career? There are those trucking businesses who have taken the initiative by boosting driver compensation, home time and providing the drivers more of the respect that they deserve. The more experienced drivers have located these companies. You will find that these industry leaders have no trouble with a driver shortage. The trucking corporations who continue to exploit drivers by poor pay, low miles, not getting them home and so forth, are the ones shouting “driver shortage.”
Trucking firms having problems recruiting drivers are generally those who:
Have a pay scale below the industry standard
Treats their drivers with little regard
Operates badly maintained equipment
Has the mindset that drivers are a “dime a dozen”
Logic implies that if a trucking firm genuinely believes that a truck driver scarcity exists, then they would work hard to keep the drivers they have. Thousands of professional truck drivers enjoy the over the road trucking lifestyle. Largely in part, because they have found the best truck driver jobs. There are many good trucking businesses who have followed the laws of business in order to withstand the current situation of the market. By adjusting and reforming, they have weathered 2008, which turned out to be one of the worst years for the trucking business in recent history.
Finding those trucking jobs may take a little additional work in these present circumstances, but they are out there. The long time, experienced drivers know the good truck driver employment and they like to keep this information to themselves, for obvious reasons. It is these trucking businesses who keep America moving and will pay no attention to this problem that is known as the driver shortage.
