Crave the Open Road? Theres a job for YOU.

There is a crisis in America that gets bigger every day.   As the baby boom generation gets older, fewer and fewer workers from that generation are available to drive the trucks that move almost all of the products we consume every day. For that reason, the American Trucking Associations is conducting a wide ranging and diverse hunt for new drivers.   Lost a job recently to downsizing?  Crave getting out of that Dilbert cube you work in?  Maybe you are just home from the Middle East and want out of the Army.  Trucking could be for you.

Supply chain demand is way up, and drivers are hard to find.  That means premium opportunity for those who want to try their hand at the open road. The ATA says there are 20,000 openings now for drivers.   In 7 years time, in 2014 that figure jumps to over 110,000 jobs.    ATA and long haul trucking firms are even working on driver training school tuition assistance.   

If this market is like any other,  the driver shortage will force freight rates up.  Thats a concern that will impact everything from use of all water ocean services to the US East Coast from Asia to impact on cabotage laws that might allow foreign owned trucking firms into the US market.

The article below is clipped from Logistics Quarterly Magazine and may be read in its entirety at the link below.

clipped from www.logisticsquarterly.com Managing the Driver Shortage Trucks haul 87 percent of the total value of products upon which communities and people depend. Today, however, there there's a shortage of 20,000 truck drivers, prompting the American Trucking Associations (ATA) to launch a nationwide casting call for tractor-trailer drivers to join the 1.3 million professional truckers who ply the nation's highways 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. by Tiffany Wlazlowski THE BABY BOOM GENERATION started to turn 60 last year, and like many market sectors, the truck transportation industry is facing a potential labor shortage. But unlike other businesses, where the aging workforce will only translate into an employee shortfall, a national shortage of professional drivers will bring with it economic implications reaching far beyond trucking's own boundaries. Currently, the long-haul, heavy-duty truck transportation industry in the United States is experiencing a national shortage of 20,000 truck drivers. An aging workforce, combined with a decline in the primary demographic group that comprises the bulk of the driver pool, has many fleets unable to seat trucks or add capacity at a time when freight volumes are growing. If current demographic trends continue, the shortage of long-haul truck drivers could increase to 111,000 by 2014. Because trucking is not a self-contained industry, the nation's economy ultimately will feel the pinch of the driver shortage. Indeed, truckers have a special place in the culture of America, and are indispensable to the way the economy and society work. As an industry that can not be outsourced, trucking is the silent giant that does the heavy lifting to move, at some point in the supply chain, nearly everything consumed in our modern society. Trucks haul 87 percent of the total value of products upon which communities and people depend. The remaining 13 percent is moved by trains, planes, pipelines and along inland waterways.

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