TRUCKERS' SHORTAGE * USA - Driver supply held back by drop-off in hiring

According to FTR Associates’ Driver Supply Update for May, fleets needing truck drivers will be constrained by their own ability to hire and train candidates from the available labor pool

Nashville, IN,USA -Fleet Owner -May 25, 2010: -- FTR estimates trucking’s overall ability to hire drivers has been cut by one-third... The report shows that “while there are sufficient numbers of experienced drivers looking for work, fleets have pared down their hiring and training departments so severely during the recent downturn that most will be challenged to process a sufficient number of drivers to fill previously parked trucks”... The forecasting firm noted that its Driver Supply Update consolidates and reports data affecting driver supply and is part of FTR’s Freight Focus Series, a new suite of data and business strategy-orientated publications...


* The worth of work, or, Take Care yours' truckers

New York,NY,USA -Fleet Owner, by Sean Kilcarr -May 20th, 2010: ... What often gets lost in all of this, though, is the truck driver – the man or woman expected to pilot such high-tech modern marvels across the country or across town, wending their way through crowded streets, over steep mountain grades, through snow, ice, rain, and blistering heat... The truck driver in a lot of ways gets a bad rap these days – which, sad to say, is pretty much how the job’s been viewed over the last several decades. The U.S. Department of Labor considers driving a big rig “unskilled labor” and the job’s pay is structured along those lines... A truck driver faces a 14 hour work day – 11 behind the wheel, three spent loading and unloading – with no overtime, and those house run consecutively, so taking a break to rest or have lunch impacts their total potential mileage and thus their paycheck... Many drivers don’t have health insurance – the Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), for one, reports that some 30% of its membership can’t afford it – putting even more fiscal pressures upon them and their families... To top it all off, more rules are being laid upon the driving position – the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Comprehensive Safety Analysis (CSA) 2010 program is the latest and greatest effort in this arena – in an effort to weed out the “bad apples” with poor driving records and high accident rates. Some in the industry believe CSA 2010 could effectively slice 20% out of the current truck driver population... So what we’re left with is an ever-more highly regulated job with low pay and long hours – and we haven’t even begun to factor in the negative view of truckers that permeates the popular culture... Likewise, it’ll take some time before encourage someone to drive a truck for a living won’t be a “tough sell” either... (Photo from ashurstamericanhoney - Fleet of Trucks)