Shortage of truck drivers fuels supply chain woes
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (SBG) — Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, few people probably gave any thought to the topic of supply chain shortages. Yet, in the last few years, supply chain issues — even including everyday products — have become commonplace. But with the pandemic mostly in the rear-view mirror, why aren’t those supply chain shortfalls fading into the background like the virus?
One reason is trucks. The trucking industry — and especially the long-haul companies — is experiencing a serious shortage of drivers.
“We peg the drivers shortage, this year, at roughly 80,000,” according to American Trucking Associations chief economist Bob Costello. But that shortfall is today’s number and the future looks to be worse. The nationwide shortage of truck drivers is expected to double in size to 160,000 in the coming decade.
“We're moving into an era when there's going to be very limited growth in the number of workers available in America. We're probably looking at long term shortages.”
This worker crisis is not just impacting only truckers. The U.S. should brace for significant shortages across all industries, says professor Tony Carnevale with the Georgetown University Research Center on Jobs and Skills. Carnevale warned, “We're moving into an era when there's going to be very limited growth in the number of workers available in America. We're probably looking at long term shortages.”
Those worker shortages are on the mind of Darrel Harris every day. He’s the president of Yellow Trucking, one of the largest shipping companies in America. He told us the worker shortage in his line of work boils down to age.
“Trucking is an industry where a predominant amount of the drivers particularly are they’re Baby Boomers. These are folks that are pretty close to retirement," Harris said.
Adding to the problem is the disinterest in driving commercial trucks by Millennial and Generation Z adults. Unlike their parents, these newest generations of workers are taking a pass on driving long-haul trucks.
As an aging fleet of drivers retire, there aren’t nearly enough replacements to get behind the wheel.
The trucking industry faces a monumental challenge.
“We're going to need to replace about a million jobs here in the coming decade,” Harris said. “So we've got a lot of work to do, need to bring a lot of younger folks into the industry.”
One of the solutions, Harris told us, would be to attract more women to this male-dominated profession. Right now, 93% of drivers are men. But recruiting more women has challenges, warned Carnevale.
According to the Georgetown University professor, “[A]s the baby boom retires, any older person who gets care from a relative, nine times out of 10, they get that care from a daughter or the wife of a son. So there are all these natural barriers to participation for women.”
Nonetheless, the industry is aggressively pursuing hiring more female drivers, like Esther Parsons. “Ten years ago, five years ago, I would've never pictured myself driving a big old truck, let alone doubles on the same road a few years later. Never,” she admitted.
“Now this is my office. I have the best window in the world. Don't have to worry about a cubicle and being stuck in between four walls day in and day out," she said.
For Parsons, her home life as a mother had to become stable before she could launch her truck driving career. She waited for her children to head off to college before she could climb into her big rig. The physical change was dramatic.
She traded an office job in a cubicle with no window for lots of glass that gives her a commanding view of the highway.
She told us, “Now this is my office. I have the best window in the world. Don't have to worry about a cubicle and being stuck in between four walls day in and day out.”
Darrel Harris said freight delivery companies must change in order to attract a younger and more female workforce, who have different priorities than retiring Baby Boomers. His company is among the industry leaders in putting long-haul drivers in hotel rooms rather than having them sleep in their cabs.
Clearly, the industry is changing with the times.
“[T]here's a different level of expectation relative to quality of life,” he observed.
But putting more drivers behind the wheel only solves one growing problem.
Bob Costello said the state of the nation’s highway system is adding to supply chain problems. This includes growing traffic congestion around the nation and the lack of enough parking for drivers to safely pull off the road for required breaks and sleeping.
Costello noted, “Drivers quit early if they can find a parking spot for the night. [T]hink about over a span of a year how many more loads each one of those drivers could do.”
The demand for getting items delivered to our nation’s front doors took off during the pandemic and it continues to grow.
For Esther Parsons, that amounts to a silver lining for an industry long taken for granted by the public. She noted a change in American attitudes toward the trucking the industry.
“Now we have a totally new respect for truck drivers, who are out here moving America every day. And I think that's a good thing,” she said.
