The global supply chain has faced major shocks in the past few years. Many of them stem from the pandemic, which caused quarantines, production shutdowns and shuttered logistics offices, all making the movement of products harder at a time when demand for delivery was rising. More recently, soaring fuel prices increased transportation costs and subsequently fed inflation.
The result of these economic conditions created havoc for the trucking industry, which is desperately seeking employees —and the situation is especially acute since trucking makes up the bulk of all shipping.
The Stamford-based job search site Indeed estimated there are 55,000 available trucking jobs nationwide. To help mitigate this shortage, Indeed is collaborating on Drive for 500, a new initiative to encourage military veterans to pursue jobs in the trucking industry.
The initiative seeks to provide 500 full-ride Commercial Drivers License (CDL) scholarships for military veterans and their spouses. Indeed is partnering with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and the nonprofits TransForce Group and Troops Into Transportation on Drive for 500.
“We’re always looking for opportunities to help more people get jobs and find ways to shorten the duration of the job search,” said Matthew Jensen, senior director, global government relations and public policy at Indeed in a press statement. “With Drive for 500, we’re honored to support the military community in their entry to the high demand and critical ground transportation industry.”
Drive for 500 is currently accepting applications and lists average starting salaries of $60,000, a high wage compared to the length of time required to earn a CDL Class A License, which is typically requires around three months in comprehensive programs and three to six weeks for accelerated courses. Once licensed, students will be qualified to operate not just box trucks, but large trucks with trailers and the uppermost weight limits of vehicles on the road.
The trucking jobs are critical for the operation of many businesses, and demand for drivers far outpaces supply. Walmart, which runs its own trucking operations, recently increased the pay range for first-year truckers to between $95,000 and $110,000 since just-in-time delivery is so central to itsbusiness model.
There are many roads into the trucking industry for those interested, including Rockland Community College in Suffern. The school offers a CDL A course administered through Ancora Education, an industry leading provider of training and vocational education.
The most recent graduates of the program received their certificates on March 23. Keith Baxter, a traveling program director for Ancora’s CDL program who worked with Rockland Community College, described the new graduates in glowing terms.
“The group we had here last cycle were great guys,” Baxter said. “They were very successful with everything we wanted them to accomplish.”
Baxter also believed the graduates would have no problem finding work.
“To be honest with you, there has always been a shortage of drivers,” Baxter admitted. “We are in somewhat of a different mode at the moment because we’re experiencing some other issues on top of the shortage of drivers. With Covid coming back and people getting quarantined or sick and needing time off, it’s creating a snowball effect.”
But, Baxter stressed, “these guys are out here every day doing everything they can to keep America running. Without trucks we don’t keep America running.”
Baxter himself earned his CDL in 2000 in his native Georgia and since then has been across the country and to Canada on several occasions. He said he loved having the opportunity to “see the country through the windshield of a tractor trailer” before becoming an instructor in 2013.
“Unfortunately, in our industry, we see about a 50% turnover rate,” Baxter said. “For every four students we train, on average two of them will not remain in our industry. They get into it thinking it’s all glitz and glamour and it turns out it’s not. It’s hard work, it’s dedication. It’s putting in the time and putting in the effort. But anybody who can put in that time, the energy and effort, they can be successful.”
