The shortage of drivers remains a great problem for the trucking industry. This leads to drivers’ salaries getting higher. Over the past year the average gained up about 12%.
According to the statistics, in 2015 the average pay for truckers got to its record at $57,000 a year with a 17% jump since 2013.
The expanding shortage is now at about 48,000 and the situation can get worse because the industry is experiencing growth and a lot of professional workforce is retiring.
The demand for imported goods has increased which has caused the boom in the trucking industry responsible for transporting these goods. The tonnage carried by trucks hit its record in January, 2016.
To keep satisfying the demand, the industry will need to hire 89,000 of new truck drivers every year for the next ten years, and that is a great challenge for the industry.
One of the ways to fill out the empty seats is to make it legal for drivers as young as 18 years old to drive commercial trucks crossing the state lines. There is also an idea to attract more women to this kind of career, as only 6 percent of truck drivers are females while other industries keep hiring more and more of them.
It is not easy to attract potential employees to a job with a difficult life-style with long hours spent on the toad. So it would be wise to offer higher pay and bonuses for signing on, as well as more time at home for drivers. They also should be treated better by the companies they work for, and some work should be done on their image. It is also beneficial to cater to former military.
As for now, drivers’ salaries are expected to keep rising as long as there is still shortage in the trucking industry.
