{"id":1139,"date":"2020-10-27T20:22:07","date_gmt":"2020-10-27T20:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/?p=1139"},"modified":"2020-10-27T20:30:38","modified_gmt":"2020-10-27T20:30:38","slug":"driver-shortage-again-industrys-top-concern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/other-news\/2020\/10\/27\/driver-shortage-again-industrys-top-concern\/1139\/","title":{"rendered":"Driver Shortage Again Industry’s Top Concern"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Al Muskewitz<\/strong>

You can\u2019t have a trucking industry without truck drivers and for the fourth year in a row the driver shortage is the top concern overall \u2013 by a large margin \u2013 among the year\u2019s American Transportation Research Institute\u2019s annual list of top trucking industry issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the driver shortage, truck parking, driver compensation and retention and \u2013 for the first time in 15 years \u2013 insurance costs top the list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor a number of reasons, 2020 has been a tremendously challenging one for our industry and our country,\u201d American Trucking Associations chairman Randy Guillot said in a news release announcing the results. \u201cThere are a number of issues we must address in addition to the ones put in front of us by this (COVID-19) pandemic.\u201d

The driver shortage has been among the top two industry issues five of the last seven years. Driver compensation, new to the survey last year, moved up one spot. The ELD Mandate, the No. 1 issue in 2016, is off the overall list for the first time since appearing for the first time in 2012, although drivers place it No. 10.

In terms of the driver shortage issue, the report said freight demand is returning to pre-COVID levels and early indications are showing the shortage will soon return to the levels experienced in 2018 and 2019. Exacerbating the challenges is the number of drivers who have left the industry due to the FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse as well as older drivers who retired or exited over COVID-related health concerns.

Nearly 20 percent of the respondents view expanding recruitment of women and minorities as a top strategy to mitigate the shortage. According to U.S. Department of Labor statistics, the current driver population is comprised of 6.7 percent female drivers and 41.5 percent minorities.

More than 1,000 drivers responded to the survey with truck parking, compensation and detention issues their top concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, a record 3,122 drivers, carriers and industry stakeholders responded to the survey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
BREWSTER<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHaving such a robust sample gives us a very accurate picture of what issues are of most concern to the trucking industry,\u201d ATRI president Rebecca Brewster said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Insurance costs and availability hit the list for the first time since 2015 \u2013 at No. 5 on the combined list and No. 4 among carriers. Tort reform appeared for the first time since 2011 \u2013 No. 7 on the combined list and No. 5 among carriers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe impacts of litigation and growth of nuclear verdicts in the trucking industry was really apparent in this year\u2019s list of concerns,\u201d Brewster said. \u201cEarlier this year, ATRI quantified the growth in nuclear verdicts in the trucking industry, but even without that critical research, the fact that tort reform and insurance issues have resurfaced in the survey are a clear sign the industry is being impacted by rising costs related to litigation and insurance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2020 Top Industry Issues<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
  • Driver Shortage<\/li>
  • Driver Compensation<\/li>
  • Truck Parking<\/li>
  • Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA)<\/li>
  • Insurance Cost\/Availability<\/li>
  • Driver Retention<\/li>
  • Tort Reform<\/li>
  • Economy<\/li>
  • Detention\/Delay<\/li>
  • Hours of Service
    <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Top Issues: Drivers vs. Carriers<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
    Drivers<\/strong><\/td>Carriers<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
    Truck Parking<\/td>Driver Shortage<\/td><\/tr>
    Driver Compensation<\/td>Driver Retention<\/td><\/tr>
    Detention\/Delays<\/td>CSA<\/td><\/tr>
    Hours of Service<\/td>Insurance Cost\/Availability<\/td><\/tr>
    Driver Training Standards<\/td>Tort Reform<\/td><\/tr>
    Automated Technology<\/td>Economy<\/td><\/tr>
    CSA<\/td>Transportation Infrastructure<\/td><\/tr>
    Driver Health\/Wellness<\/td>Driver Distraction<\/td><\/tr>
    Speed Limiters<\/td>Detention\/Delays<\/td><\/tr>
    ELDs<\/td>Hours of Service<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

    Al Muskewitz is Editor of Wright Media. He can be reached at musky@wightmediacorp.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By Al MuskewitzYou can\u2019t have a trucking industry without truck drivers and for the fourth year in a row the driver shortage is the top concern overall \u2013 by a large margin \u2013 among the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":510,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,6],"tags":[172,56,292],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1139"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1139"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1145,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1139\/revisions\/1145"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}