Truck Drivers Are Constantly In Demand

Truck driving is one field of employment that is constantly in demand. Although air, rail and sea often transport products, almost everything still requires transporting by truck – even if it is only a short distance from the air, rail or sea port to its final destination.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has forecast a growth of 8% in job numbers over the next six years. This is an increase of over 250,000 additional drivers bringing the total number to over 3.6 million. Add to this the number of drivers retiring or moving on to alternative careers, thought to be around 5% each year, and you can see why truck drivers, particularly those with their commercial drivers licenses (CDL), are in high demand.

Long distance haulage can be demanding with drivers having to spend not just hours away from home, often it is days or even weeks. Some drivers have their rigs set up with beds, TVs and even microwaves and mini-refrigerators – talk about the comforts of home. However, driving for 10 hours straight, often overnight, can be wearing on the body. Fortunately, today’s trucks have the comfort of air conditioning, padded seats, power steering and GPS to help with navigation.

One of the benefits of obtaining and maintaining your Class A CDL license is that you can move in and out of the truck driving workforce. When employment in your regular field is tight, you can often rely on truck driving as a viable fill in. Heavy equipment operators can also benefit from obtaining their CDL as they are in a position then to transport their equipment to and from work sites. This saves a potential employer the problem of rostering two people to do a job – one to transport and one to operate.

The outlook is good for truck driving and now is a great time to take advantage of truck driver training. Once completed you will be in a position to take up many of the opportunities that will arise over the next 12 months.