CNN MONEY - DRIVER SHORTAGE

America needs a lot more truck drivers.

There will be a shortage of nearly 50,000 truckers in the United States by the end of this year, according a new report by the American Trucking Associations (ATA). That's up from a shortage of 30,000 drivers just two years ago, and 20,000 drivers a decade ago.

American businesses need truck drivers to move goods around. And not having enough of them affects daily deliveries of everything from essentials like food and gas to supermarkets and gas stations to online Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) orders to people's homes. It's a job that cannot be shipped overseas and has the potential to drive the cost of goods higher and ultimately hurt the U.S. economy. No wonder businesses are willing to pay up for it. Trucker compensation has been going up 8% to 12% a year in recent years, according to Bob Costello, chief economist at the ATA. That's a lot higher than wages for the rest of Americans, which have barely budged recently.

The median annual wage for a trucker that works for a private fleet, such as a truck driver employed by Walmart, is $73,000, according to ATA. The Labor Department pegs the median annual salary for all truck drivers at around $40,000.

But it isn't an easy job to fill. There's 1.6 million truck drivers in America. Of those, about 750,000 are "for hire" truckers, meaning they work for a truck company that's hired by another company, such as a grocery chain, to deliver its product. These truckers are sometimes on the road for 10 days at a time before coming home, Costello says.

At a time when work-life balance issues such as paid leave and flexible schedules are gaining spotlight in the American economy, trucking companies are challenged to recruit and retain workers. Add on an aging workforce and a lack of interest from young workers, and you've got a shortage.

The median age of truckers is 49, according to ATA. The median age for all American workers is about 42, according to Labor Department. Costello admits that the industry is having the toughest time retaining young workers.

Trucking companies also have a tough time recruiting women, who have become a larger part of the workforce than in previous generations. Women make up 47% of the total U.S. workforce, yet only 6% of all truck drivers are women, according data from the Labor Department and ATA.

To qualify, truckers have to be 21, they must a commercial trucking license and pass a background check and drug test. Those requirements haven't changed in years, experts say. However, what's changed is that there are fewer people willing to be on the road for days at a time and put in the long hours that the truck-driving lifestyle demands.

"They're having a very difficult time being able to recruit or retain [young] drivers," says Charlie Myers, vice president of Trucker Path, an app for the trucking industry.

There would be no driver shortage or problems retaining drivers if trucking company's would compensate fairly for ALL work related job duties. Stop telling drivers "that's jus part of it". CNN needs to look at the company's who do not have driver shortages or retention issues and report why they don't.

So let's see, they're trying to say that this newer generation doesn't want to work? Considering everything they have growing up, very little structure for the most part and a belief system that the whole world should be a utopia, why would they want to work?

Drivers are a rare breed, good drivers are even more rare. It's not that we just woke up and said, I wanna drive a truck. It's something the majority of us are passionate about. We live for the lifestyle, we care about our brothers and sisters and we know what our profession means to the country. Unfortunately, a lot of new drivers, just don't get it.

However, what's changed is that there are fewer people willing to be on the road for days at a time and put in the long hours that the truck-driving lifestyle demands.

That's not true. It's not like having a family or wanting to be at home regularly is a new phenomenon.

There would be no driver shortage or problems retaining drivers if trucking company's would compensate fairly for ALL work related job duties

What would eliminate the shortage is raising the salaries to a level that makes it worth doing for people who otherwise don't want to do it. It doesn't matter how they break down the pay. If companies paid only by the mile but raised that mileage pay to about 60 cpm there certainly wouldn't be a shortage of drivers. Personally I don't care how they break down the pay. You can pay me $75,000 to haul one load and I'll do the rest of em that year for free. As long as I make $75,000 that year who cares how they break it down?

If the overall salaries came up the shortage would go away. Simple as that. But that's how this industry works. It's the free market doing what it was designed to do. Companies are only going to pay as much as they have to in order to maintain the minimum number of drivers they need. It's cheaper in the long run to put more money into heavy recruiting and pay a little less than it is to raise salaries to the point that the demand goes away. So that's the tactic a lot of companies use. They know they could have a lot more drivers knocking on the door if they paid better but their profits would decrease significantly. So they find a middle ground where they're paying as little as necessary in order to keep enough drivers on the payroll.

You'll never see the driver shortage disappear unless some type of legislation changes the overall landscape of the industry. The shortage is there by design.

Driver shortage? That's funny cause I have yet to see a dock that is over flowing with to much freight. The ATA represents big companies and the real driver shortage is due to.....A shortage of drivers willing to drive for low wages.

Driver shortage? That's funny cause I have yet to see a dock that is over flowing with to much freight. The ATA represents big companies and the real driver shortage is due to.....A shortage of drivers willing to drive for low wages.

Agreed.

I've always thought the same thing......I've never gone to a customer and had them say, "Hey driver. Do you know where we could find more trucks to haul our freight? We can't find anyone to do it."

Never had that conversation one time ever. Not once.

Brett says:

What would eliminate the shortage is raising the salaries to a level that makes it worth doing for people who otherwise don't want to do it.

Just like the traditional burger flipping job, truck companies will pay the minimum that gets their truck seats filled. An exception that proves the rule: In-N-Out burgers always pays really decent wages. Their kitchens run very efficiently, the counter/customer service is great, and the company still makes money. The low end restaurants have a high turnover, get "problems" of one sort or another in the back end, and, well, you've met some really "special" order takers, I bet.

So if you're a new driver reading this, you and I are on the bottom of the wage pyramid simply because we can fill those seats. Think you're better than that? Check out a driving job at Walmart, one of the highest paying trucking operations around. Low turnover, great drivers, making money for their company. Few openings.

Any job you work at, and I mean any job you are at the bottom of the pay scale until you prove otherwise, and then you still will not make as much as ( insert name of company here ). As far as trucking I do not have any experience, but I am sure the same principle applies.