Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
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commercial carrier journal | may 2018 47 e-commerce demands, and technological changes – such as automated transmis- sions, safety systems and autonomous trucks – likely will help the industry's workforce woes, but they won't fill the ever-widening gap. To do that, the industry must attract drivers from other demographics – women, young people and minorities – and build a sustainable workforce. Unfortunately, diversification efforts to date have met with limited success. Trucking has pushed to hire more women drivers. The move's been driven in part by the Women In Trucking association, and many fleets have focused on attracting and retain- ing female drivers, while truck makers have made their rigs more comfortable and flexible to accommodate drivers of most heights and builds. Those efforts have moved the needle on women's share of the driving population from around 5 percent to 7 percent. Trucking has done better among African-Americans and Hispanics, at least as compared to the overall workforce. The National Minority Trucking Association says African- Americans make up 14 percent of the trucking workforce – the same as their share of the total U.S. work- force. Hispanics make up 13 percent of truckers compared to 17 percent of the total U.S. workforce. Ethnic minorities are one of the fasting-growing segments of the driver population and perfectly poised to help ease the shortage, says Kevin Reid, NMTA founder and CEO. The key is to lure potential drivers before they pursue other careers. Reid hits on the industry's biggest workforce challenge: Attracting young people, regardless of race or gender, to a career whose regulations prohibit those under 21 from commercial interstate driving. "Trucking does not tee up well for a young person out of high school," Byrd says. Not allowing drivers under 21 to cross state lines "is a big deterrent to people entering our industry." It also makes for inconsistent safety policy. Byrd cites a 20-year-old Bulldog driver who can drive 360 miles on I-10 from Jacksonville, Fla., to the carrier's largest customer in Pensacola, but that same driver can't continue west 60 more miles on I-10 into the port of Alabama and then back to Pensacola. Similarly, large states allow young From 1994 to 2013, trucking's share of 25- to 34-year-olds dropped from 1.35 percent of the national workforce to 0.64 percent, while its share of 65-plus-year-olds grew from 0.7 percent to nearly 1.5 percent. Trucking's youth exodus Percentage of total U.S. workforce employed in truck transportation,1994 and 2013 2.0% 1.5% 1.0% 0.5% 0.0% 1994 2013 1994 2013 20-24 years 1.029 % 0.507% 25-34 years 1.349% 0.640% 35-44 years 1.258% 0.877% 45-54 years 1.231% 1.380% 55-64 years 1.158% 1.587% 65 years+ 0.728% 1.493% Percentage of total workforce American Transportation Research Institute Analysis of Truck Driver Age Demographics To prep them for careers as truck drivers, seniors at Pat- terson High School in Patter- son, Calif., can take classroom instruction and experience 20 hours on a driving simulator, followed by free behind-the- wheel training, to obtain their intrastate CDL.