Shortage of Drivers and Its Effect on the Economy

Over the past decade, truck driver availability declined due to a few reasons. The first reason is due to a stronger economy. With the economy bouncing back from the recession in 2007, there has been a larger need for companies to ship their goods from one place to another. This boost in the economy and increased trading has made a lot more jobs and opportunities for truck drivers and their companies. The problem is that they cannot find enough people to employ to meet the demand.

Another problem that adds to the unavailability of drivers is that a law was passed that limited drivers to a certain number of hours they can operate their trucks before having to stop and rest. While it is good that drivers will be able to rest and be refreshed for their transits, they have a harder time meeting their delivery requirements since their hours can prevent them from picking up or delivering a load on time. This also creates more of a demand for driving teams, which consist on more than one driver so they can take turns driving and not have to worry about their hours of operation. These teams cost more money, but there would be a demand for them with the hours of operation laws. The problem with this is that companies do not have enough drivers to have teams or trade out trailers to complete a delivery.

Companies have tried to increase the number of their employees by advertising. Since there is a high demand for drivers, companies have taken to offer signing bonuses or higher base salaries in order to fill the void.

This has been a problem for companies since there was another new law that was passed that prohibited any truck driver under the age of 21 to cross state lines while they are delivering a load. This takes a huge chunk of potential drivers out of the market because of the availability of workers coming straight out of high school. free HitCounter