Depending on your sources, there is a significant and growing truck driver shortage in the US that will soon imperil supply chain efficiency.
Supply Chain Digest Says...
|
 |
| Jay Grimes of OOIDA commented on the news that for decades, large motor carriers and others “have peddled the myth of a ‘driver shortage’ in an effort to find the cheapest labor possible without first addressing longstanding driver turnover problems." |
 |
What do you say? |
| Click here to send us your comments |
 |
| |
|
Perhaps one day autonomous trucks will come to the rescue, especially for long haul routes, but the timing on that is speculative at best, even as autonomous truckers say they are making real progress (see Where things Stand in the Autonomous Truck Market).
For years, many in the trucking industry, including the American Trucking Associations (ATA) have looked at 18-20 year-olds as a large pool of potential drivers that might be attracted to the industry and help ease the shortage
Individual drivers under 21 years old are not allowed to drive on Federal highways, though they are permitted to drive a truck under the laws of many states, but only within the states.
In 2019, trucking interests were able to get the go ahead for a trial program for 18 to 20 year-olds under the auspices of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), but unfortunately new data shows the program was largely a bust.
The first week of April, the FMSCA reported that only 113 motor carriers have applied for its under-21 truck driver apprenticeship program since it started accepting applications in July of 2022.
Expectations were that the program would sign-up 1,000 carriers and 3,000 drivers.
This and other data came from a fiscal year 2022 report submitted to Congress by the FMCSA in early April.
In other bad news for the program, as of February 2024, FMCSA has rejected 34% of the applications received (38 of the 113), while fully approving only 30%, or 34 of those applications.
The three-year program is scheduled to end in 2025.
While the initiative did have the backing of the ATA and many others, it was opposed by government’s own National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) as well as the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA).
OODIA argued the driver shortage was the result of inadequate pay and lousy working conditions for drivers and had little to do with extending the young driver pool.
(See More Below)
 Jay Grimes, OOIDA’s director of federal affairs, commented on the news that for decades, large motor carriers and others “have peddled the myth of a ‘driver shortage’ in an effort to find the cheapest labor possible without first addressing longstanding driver turnover problems."
In another report covering FY2021 that was also submitted to Congress in early April, the FMCSA also reported anemic results for another under-21 CDL pilot program for those that had been in the military that ran from 2019 to August 2021.
“Despite significant outreach and recruitment efforts, only a very small number of drivers participated” in the under-21 military program, FMCSA noted.
It appears to SCDigest that there just aren’t that many carriers or 18-20 year-olds that are interested in trucking careers.
Any thoughts on the bad trial results? Let us know your thoughts at the Feedback section below.
|
