Trucking’s millennial moment: Tech meets the driver shortage
With labor in high demand, evolving tools of the trade take center stage.
Five-figure driver shortages have become a daunting new norm in the trucking industry — and one that those watching the sector only expect to grow as baby boomer retirements accelerate and carriers struggle to find fresh talent.
Analyst reports have captured plenty of anxiety about the dearth of drivers, an all time high of 50,700 unfilled jobs at the end of 2017, according to the American Trucking Association . Still, one increasingly important variable is often overlooked: the role of technology in driver recruiting, particularly for 20- and 30-something millennials.
Sure, recruiters across industries are quick to point out that online job listings and unconventional advertising on sites like Facebook could at least help spread the word about work waiting in the wings. What’s less clear, though, is how carriers will respond to the more fundamental ways that technology is already changing traditional truck driving jobs.
Part of the reason for this disconnect is likely due to the fact that no one can be completely certain about how widely varied technologies will combine to change the profession. It’s a question that represents a sharp double-edged sword.
On one hand, tech innovations directly related to how trucks are operated, like autonomous driving controls, could rationally undermine industry job prospects for young, would-be drivers looking to chart a long-term career path.
On the other hand, here at LoadDocs, we’ve also already seen the potential recruiting upside from investing in connected logistics technologies, like mobile apps and digital document transfers available today to both drivers and fleet managers. Savvy customers, we’ve noticed, are now listing the latest technology available for drivers in job postings, emphasizing selling points like less time spent completing and processing paperwork — which also means less time until drivers get paid.
Where are we now?
Though the factors contributing to the driver shortage are many (more on that in a minute), the stakes of inaction on recruiting are high. If current trends hold, the American Trucking Association forecasts that the shortage could grow exponentially, to more than 174,000 open class 8 driver jobs by 2026.
“The driver shortage is really a problem for the entire supply chain,” the association explains. “If the trend stays on course, there will likely be severe supply chain disruptions resulting in significant shipping delays, higher inventory carrying costs, and perhaps shortages at stores.”
Already in 2018, the tight labor market has made its mark on the logistics sector. Not since the chaos after Hurricane Katrina has trucking availability been so “unbalanced,” The Wall Street Journal recently reported. An analysis by online freight marketplace DAT Solutions found that just one truck is available for every 12 freight loads.
Still, comparisons to other industries can help provide context. The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, for example, says that the trucking industry’s projected 6 percent growth rate — about 108,400 new jobs by 2026 — is about on par with the average across sectors of the U.S. economy. What’s much more concerning longer term is the dominance of age 50-plus drivers likely to retire in the next decade as part of the baby boomer “silver tsunami” forecast by labor analysts.
Adding to the murky picture for people who might consider applying for driving jobs is the fact that data shows not all trucking jobs are created equal.
Among the top five states for truck driving jobs as a proportion of the workforce — North Dakota, Arkansas, Nebraska, Iowa and Wyoming — average yearly pay varies widely, from $39,430 in Arkansas to $53,720 in North Dakota.
It might seem obvious, but one of the primary recommendations from drivers who have weighed in on the shortage is that higher pay would likely be a major catalyst for more applicants. Though pay is less often front and center in a labor conversation usually driven by companies, it’s one immediate incentive that could help both improve recruitment and reduce turnover.
Perhaps the biggest wild card, though, is how existing trucking business models may evolve with adoption of autonomous vehicles. With labor currently accounting for about 43 percent of the average trucking company’s costs, “full automation” replacing drivers could wring as much as $300 billion out of annual industry expenditures, according to a late 2017 estimate by analysts at Bernstein.
Recruiting drivers aware of the potential for such scenarios is an obvious challenge, but viewpoints do differ on the viability of trucks with zero driver presence, or the potential to reroute drivers to other jobs within the supply chain.
Tech and trucking’s ‘image problem’
Demographics and automation aside, there are also more qualitative challenges with the driver job market that could benefit from both high- and low-tech solutions.
From the physical and mental toll of long solo trips to concerns about work-life balance on the freight industry’s busy schedule, several long standing recruiting roadblocks have become more pronounced as the overall job market expands to include more contract jobs with fewer benefits but more flexible schedules. The LoadDelivered Logistics blog puts it this way:
“Overcoming trucking’s image problems is a key part of attracting drivers.”
Rethinking routes and scheduling is one option. Another is investing in technologies that work with tools most drivers already use daily, like cell phones, as a natural way to build familiarity and appeal into job descriptions.
That’s especially true as the industry weathers controversial tech-centric regulatory changes, like the Electronic Logging Device mandate that has anecdotally already spurred some drivers to hand in their keys to avoid constant tracking. Industry observers are also still speculating about yet-to-be-seen ripple effects of the policy, like whether drivers will have to cut back on hours to adapt to avoid logging trips that may exceed federal hour limits.
In the meantime, though, online tools already here today are increasing efficiency and freeing up manpower thanks to easily-automated facets of accounting, operations and other functions. Examples include ever-more-accurate Transportation Management Systems, digital recordkeeping tools and more reliable platforms for mobile communication with drivers.
In essence, these dual paths of innovations — hardware and software, automation and digitization — underscore the difficulty of writing off trucking tech as all good or all bad for those considering a career in driving. It’s not clear that technology can ease daily red tape on necessities like reporting, but it also raises bigger questions about how drivers fit into the field’s future.
While starting from scratch is never easy with personnel matters, the reality is that evolving industry technology leads to evolving employee demands. Especially at a time when qualified drivers are in such short supply, that will likely increasingly mean embracing opportunities to make drivers’ lives easier with new on-the-road technologies, rather than reacting only when technologies with potentially negative implications come into play.
Want to learn more about the world of connected logistics? Test drive a free LoadDocs demo today.
