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SALT LAKE CITY — A shortage of truck drivers across the country is creating headaches for the trucking industry both nationwide and here in Utah.
The shortage of qualified drivers isn’t new. Recent reports show there was a lack of truckers during the recession, but since the volume of freight dropped during that time, the impact of the shortage wasn’t as dramatic. However, the volume of freight being shipped across the country is on the rise and the number of drivers isn’t.
Utah Trucking Association Executive Director Rick Clasby says the Beehive State is going through the same problem.
Clasby says, “As we look to the future, we see that as a growing problem.”
According to Clasby, the problem could worsen in the next five years as a lot of drivers retire, which is why his group is recruiting now.
“We want to be an industry where folks are interested in coming. Technology, I think, helps. Nice equipment helps. Newer equipment helps,” he says.
The trick is to go to places where potential drivers may be. Clasby says they advertise at venues like truck shows and they hold job fairs.
He says, “We spend a lot of time in drivers’ education programs at the high school and college levels talking about truck safety in general and then promoting the idea that trucking, in general, is not a bad way to go.”
There are some obstacles the industry has to overcome to entice younger people to choose trucking as a career. Clasby says some potential drivers may be turned off at the idea of the time away from their families.
“If [they] can be home every night, the chances of keeping a driver are better,” he says, adding, many trucking companies are giving newer drivers intra-state routes and are saving the longer hauls for their more experienced drivers.
