An aging and shrinking labor pool coupled with rising demand for capacity is going to force fleets to increase, bonuses, and other benefits in order to recruit and retain enough drivers, reports Fleet Owner.<\/p>\n
In a conference call hosted by Stifel Capital Markets, trucking trends analyst, the National Transportation Institute (NTI), highlighted a variety of demographic and wage-related trends that will significantly shrink the supply of truck drivers just as the freight industry is poised to experience a significant pickup in freight demand and rates.<\/p>\n
That combination of factors may result in steep driver pay and benefit increases the likes of which the industry hasn\u2019t experienced in over a decade, they argued.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe [truck driver] job and pay package has been completely re-engineered over last decade,\u201d noted Leah Shaver, the company\u2019s COO. \u201cIt is now rare to see pay packages without \u2018regionalization\u2019 now [because] there are simply not enough drivers to sustain the long-haul model.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added that for-hire fleets are favoring \u201creferral bonuses\u201d more frequently now. \u201cCarriers are realizing that these [referred] drivers can be their best recruits,\u201d Shaver noted.<\/p>\n
Though private fleets are in a better position in terms of pay and home time, they are finding recruiting to be getting harder as well, NTI\u2019s founder, Gordon Klemp, explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrivate fleets have it a little different \u2013 they recruit from a more experienced driver pool [and] from for-hire carriers. That\u2019s been a cake walk in the past for them,\u201d he said. \u201cBut now they are running advertisements consistently \u2026 That means they are having a difficult time finding the drivers they want; the pool is diminishing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet NTI\u2019s Klemp noted the average age of today\u2019s truck drivers rising and fewer young people even want the job, despite increasing wages.<\/p>\n
\u201cMillennials today are totally disinterested in truck driving as a career,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s physically demanding work.\u201d<\/p>\n
But now, with freight demand and rates rising, he said \u201cwe are seeing a [trucking] market that will potentially take off; we are at the edge of the cliff we\u2019ve talked about for a long time and never reached.\u201d<\/p>\n
Klemp warned pay will keep rising until the industry can solve the balance of supply and demand equation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think a lot of crazy things can happen; the next 12 to 24 months will be very interesting,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n