The driver shortage has plagued the trucking industry for years as fleets try to woo a limited number of candidates while retaining those drivers they already have. However, many fleets are opting to focus on bailing water out of their ship rather than locating the hole. Identifying the primary issues that led to and continue to proliferate the driver shortage can help fleet managers and carriers develop realistic solutions.

4 Causes of the Truck Driver Shortage

Numerous factors helped create the driver shortage that trucking companies are grappling with today. The main culprits include:

  1. Shrinking candidate pool. From 1980 to now, the number of students going to college skyrocketed from 56% of high school graduates to 70%. While some college graduates pursue careers in trucking, most recruits are high school graduates. This means trucking companies went from competing for approximately 44% of high school graduates to 30%. Compounding this issue is that the trucking industry is predominately male. Despite several efforts to change this, women only account for 6% of the industry. This means of the remaining 30% of potential candidates, trucking companies will likely only yield success with pursuing the male half. In simple numbers, trucking companies must compete with other trade industries for 15 out of every 100 high school graduates.
  2. Families are smaller. In a twenty-year time span, drivers under 35 went from the largest demographic on the road to the smallest. The trucking industry is struggling with numerous retirements with fewer candidates than ever to take their place. The average family size is smaller than previous decades and the Baby Boomers are aging out of the industry, compounding the small candidate pool problem.
  3. Autonomous trucks taking jobs. Existing drivers have qualms about self-driving trucks taking over their jobs, but this likely won’t be a reality for them anytime soon. Experts believe autonomous fleets won’t make it through regulations for another twenty years or so. However, it is a real problem for enticing new drivers. Current regulations require drivers to be 21 years of age or older to operate a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) in interstate traffic. This means they’ll be in their early forties when autonomous vehicles put them out of a job. They’re going to ask the hard question of why they should bother and fleets will need to have an answer ready.
  4. Neglecting proper screening and onboarding processes. When fleets have deliveries they can’t make and truck seats they can’t fill, they stop being as choosy as they should be when selecting candidates. There are red flags and hallmarks that make a candidate unsuitable to the job. Trying to make an ill-suited applicant work for the role will result in either a so-so job performance, a risky job performance, or turnover. The latter is usually the result of a sales-based approach to recruiting. Instead of giving the driver a realistic expectation of the job, recruiters try to sell them on the perks. This results in rapid disillusionment and high turnover.

Another major issue for retaining drivers is their perception that their company doesn’t appreciate their work or recognize their efforts. DriverCheck can help your fleet address this issue with our GPS telematics solution. Fleets can receive a plethora of data regarding driver behaviors such as speeding, hard braking, lane departures, and more. Fleets can take that data to reward the safest drivers and encourage other drivers to follow in their suit. Recognizing drivers can go a long way toward their morale and reducing turnover. To learn more, contact us today.