The United States is short tens of thousands of truck drivers by many industry estimates, and workforce programs are gearing up to train more people to get behind the wheel — including in Baton Rouge.
Trucks move about 73% of all domestic tonnage shipped across the U.S., according to the American Trucking Associations, moving everything from groceries to consumer goods to gasoline. But the industry was short about 80,000 drivers in 2023, and that number is on track to double by 2030, the American Journal of Transportation forecasts.
That has caused institutions like Baton Rouge Community College to launch new programs aimed at getting more drivers on the road.
The college’s second cohort of students in its Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) program will start class on Jan. 29. Over six weeks, they will be trained in DOT regulations, vehicle inspections, maneuvering skills and more. Students can test for a Class A or B license once they complete the course.
Heather Guidry, BRCC dean of Technical Studies and Adult Education, said a CDL can be a relatively quick path to a reliable, in-demand career.
“There are opportunities for long shifts or to be home every night. It’s a flexible job,” Guidry said. “This is a great program, and in six weeks you could be making a living wage.
Students must be 18 or older, hold a valid Louisiana CDL, and pass a Department of Transportation physical and drug screen.
Guidry said BRCC is working on helping students with scholarships and other funding for the $5,500 course, which includes the cost of the exam.
How did trucking get here?
There is a high demand for trucking across the U.S., but the majority of drivers are of the Baby Boomer generation. They are at retirement age, and during the pandemic many drivers retired early, according to Renee Amar, executive director of Louisiana Motor Transport Association.
“Enticing the next generation into truck driving has been difficult,” Amar said.
One big problem with recruiting: The vast majority of truck drivers are men, leaving out a large candidate pool.
“Women make up about 50% of the overall workforce but only about 7 to 10% of truck drivers,” Amar said.
There are multiple reasons for this. One, getting into the cab of a truck and operating the machinery can be awkward and difficult. Amar said some companies are looking into reengineering trucks to make them more comfortable.
Another is convincing companies to hire women.
When women become truck drivers, “they love it,” Amar said. “They’re detail-oriented, they’re safe, so they have turned out to be really great truck drivers.”
She said companies could do more to highlight regional routes where drivers leave early in the morning and are home by evening to be with their families.
Safety is another issue. Federal regulations require that drivers pull over after a certain number of hours driving.
“Well, if you’re a woman out on the road in Nebraska, for example, they might drive around for hours trying to find a safe, lit place they can park,” Amar said. “It’s a major issue for women.”
The Port of Columbia received a $10.5 million federal grant in 2023 to expand truck parking at the port, creating a safe place for drivers to pull over. Amar said if there was a concerted effort and funding to establish similar solutions across the country, it would create a safer situation for drivers, especially women.
Age questions
In the meantime, LMTA is lobbying the White House to make further changes that Amar said would help the shortage.
Federal law prevents people age 18 to 21 from driving “over the road” routes, meaning routes that cross state lines. But those long-haul routes are where the most money is made, Amar said.
As part of the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed in November 2021, the Safe Driver Apprenticeship Program allows 18-year-olds with a clean record to drive interstate trucks under the supervision of a more experienced driver. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will issue a specific exemption for each driver admitted to the program.
Trucks in the program are required to have emergency braking, forward-facing cameras, speed limits and other safety technologies.
Amar said this allows younger drivers to get a head start on longer, more profitable routes.
“You’re not gonna wake up at age 25 and decide you want to be a truck driver. Typically, 18 or 19 is when we’re deciding what we’re gonna do,” she said. “But if you want to be a truck driver at 18 or 19 you need to do a local or regional route, and you’re not gonna make much money.”
Some groups, including Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, are against the new program.
“This program runs counter to numerous studies conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and others that have found that age is a strong risk factor for truck crash involvement,” the organization wrote in a letter to Congress in September 2023. “CMV Drivers under the age of 19 are four times more likely to be involved in fatal crashes compared to CMV drivers who are 21 years of age and older.”
Whatever the law says, insurers also have a say, and many impose their own age limits.
“Because of our insurance, we have never been able to hire anyone under 25 years old,” said a representative for Perrault’s Trucking, which operates dump trucks, in West Baton Rouge.
Advocates say there are other ways to combat the driver shortage, like increasing pay and reducing driving hours.
Justin Buller, manager of the Baton Rouge service center at Old Dominion Freight Line, said his company has been mostly immune from hiring issues.
“We offer a good package, benefit-wise, compensation-wise, so we attract drivers right away,” he said. “The main thing drivers need is to feel supported and compensated for the work they’re doing.”
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