Mercer County Career Center of Pennsylvania recently added logistics and supply chain management to its career program after personnel reviewed labor statistic trends and market projections. Anthony Miller, administrative director for the center, claims: “At Mercer County Career Center, we look to see where the needs are… One of those ways, we look at department of labor stats – where are the jobs? At that point, logistics jobs were anywhere from 7 to 10% of the job availability in Mercer County.” Read more…
Category Archives: Trucking
FREIGHT INDUSTRY WON’T SLOW DOWN HIRING QUALIFIED DRIVERS
While the truck and transportation sector lost 36,700 employees in August, the numbers don’t translate to motor carriers closing or any mass layoffs. Instead, many of those jobs were lost as truckers either retired or left trucking altogether. Brad Ball, president of Roadmasters Drivers School, claims that “the driver shortage is caused by a number of things,” adding “Right now, it’s muted because of the economy. The ATA estimates a shortage of 64,000 drivers this year, and that’s down from 78,000 last year.” Read more…
REAL TRUCKERS WEIGH IN ON THE STATE OF THE INDUSTRY
According to truck drivers looking for jobs, job postings are out there, but companies are hesitant when it comes to actually pulling the trigger; this makes the industry a tricky road to traverse at the moment. As one driver puts it: “Yes, the job market is like that right now. Companies are being picky on who they hire. Remember that there have been several companies that have closed recently dumping over 50,000 people into an already tight job market. It’s not going to get better for a few more years.” Read more…
TRUCKING INDUSTRY LOOKING TO RECRUIT MILITARY VETERANS
As the trucking industry continues to see a decline in the number of job applicants, “lawmakers would like to make it easier for those who have served in the nation’s military to find gainful employment within the industry.” The proposed bill – H.R. 2830 – Veteran Improvement Commercial Driver License Act of 2023 – would let “ military veterans who want to obtain their commercial driver licenses to use their G.I. benefits immediately upon the completion of their service.” Read more…
COMPANIES NOT LETTING WOMEN FILL TRUCK DRIVING JOBS
While the trucking industry has complained for years that there is a massive shortage of workers willing to drive the big rigs, some women are saying that “many trucking companies have made it effectively impossible for them to get those jobs.” Many trucking companies won’t hire women due to the fact that they don’t have women available to train them, and with fewer than 5 percent of truck drivers in the United States being women, there is an obvious dearth of female trainers. Same-sex training policies are common across the industry, despite the fact that “a federal judge ruled in 2014 that it was unlawful for a trucking company to require that female job candidates be paired only with female trainers.” Read more…
LOGISTIC COMPANIES RAMPING UP HIRES IN ARIZONA
While hiring has been steady this past year in Phoenix, logistic companies are preparing to add even additional workers as they prepare for the brisk sales of holiday shopping season. Due to ongoing staffing requirements in other companies and industries, “seasonal hiring could keep the local unemployment rate at low levels heading in 2024.” Read more…
TRUCK DRIVER JOBS DISCUSSED AT HOUSE HEARING ON AUTOMATION
With many industries worried about losing jobs to technology, truck drivers joined the fray at a recent Capitol Hill hearing on the future of autonomous trucking. Chris Spears of the American Trucking association spoke on behalf of the industry’s largest companies attempting “to quell those fears by asserting that automation is indeed to bring more drivers into the industry – not push them out.” Read more…
CALIFORNIA TRUCKERS ASK GOVERNOR TO SIGN SELF-DRIVING BILL
Lawmakers, union leaders, and truck drivers in California are imploring Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom to sign into a law a proposal “that could save jobs as self-driving trucks are tested for their safety on the roads.” The law “would ban self-driving trucks weighing more than 10,000 pounds(4,536 kilograms) – which would include vehicles from UPS delivery trucks to massive semi-trucks – from operating on public roads unless a human driver is aboard.” Read more…
TRUCKER WARNS EPA ABOUT AMERICAN FOOD SUPPLY ISSUE
Mike Kucharski, a trucking executive who is the vice-president and co-owner of JKC Trucking, has exclaimed that the new emission standards put forth by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would have a “catastrophic” impact on both the trucking industry and American food supply. The EPA rule, which went into effect on March 27, 2023, aims to lessen air pollution from heavy-duty engines and vehicles by making them more strict and covering a wider range of operating conditions. Read more…
IMPORTERS DITCHING WEST COAST PORTS
U.S. importers have been moving their business away from West Coast ports due to the fraught nature of the labor dispute between the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) and the International Longshore and Warehouse union. The Wall Street Journal reports that ports’ share of US containerized import cargo dropped from 37% to 35% year-over-year in June. Read more…