A supply chain crisis gripping the U.S. consumer goods market has been exacerbated by a reported shortage in long-haul truck drivers.
The American Trucking Association has estimated that the U.S. will be short at least 1 million drivers in the next few years.
The shortage has triggered an uptick in enrollment at trucking schools, as prospective drivers see a widening, lucrative opportunity window in the job market. Drivers can make at least $80,000 annually, to start; a number which can exceed six figures if drivers own and operate their own vehicles.
“The reason I’m getting into trucking is because I’m looking into moving out of state. So, I wanted more job opportunities and more jobs available to me in another state,” Brian Smith, a student at the Commercial Trucking School in Santa Clarita told CBS Los Angeles on Wednesday.
According to CBS, the school has fielded several calls a day from interested students since the onset of the national supply chain backlog—a problem emanating from backed up container ships at ports like those of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
“Now we’re really behind and it’s an industry where we just can’t get enough. We’re also getting a lot of women who are coming and signing up with the industry,” an instructor at Commercial Trucking told CBS.
Another school, GSF Truck Training in Sylmar, reported a 20% jump in enrollment compared to 2019.
Still, some trucking school administrators have said increased enrollment is nowhere near sufficient to meet market needs.
“I mean, yeah, I have students … our enrollments have increased,” Bruce Busada, president of Diesel Driving Academy, which operates schools in Louisiana and Arkansas, told NPR on Wednesday. “But they haven't increased to meet the demand. I mean, you know, it's going to take some time to catch up with the demand right now.”
Busada said he often fields calls from distributors saying they need upwards of a dozen drivers to start the very next day.
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