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A new study conducted by researchers and experts in the transportation space — and commissioned by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) — has helped reignite the long-standing driver shortage debate in trucking. This blog looks at both sides of the argument.
The next time you’re driving and are more than an hour away from home, look around at the backs of trailers and billboards. Chances are, you’ll see quite a few advertisements for open truck driver positions. Likewise, do a quick search for “truck driver jobs,” and you’ll find pages of results with companies looking to hire.
This visible demand for drivers might lead anyone outside the trucking world to assume there’s a massive shortage of drivers and that companies are scrambling to find people to fill the positions.
In the past, we’ve discussed some of the pressing employment issues in the industry, from driver job retention to the impact of generational gaps among professional drivers. The shortage conversation has loomed large for years, with stakeholders across the industry identifying recruitment and retention as key challenges. Yet, a new study released in October by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), and commissioned by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), throws water on the long-smoldering driver shortage blaze.
The report’s findings have sparked widespread debate, raising the question: Is there truly a driver shortage in trucking? Responses from well-known industry groups have shown just how divided opinions are on this topic, with some defending the shortage perspective as an ongoing crisis, while others question the data and underlying assumptions that drive it.
The report, titled “Pay and Working Conditions in the Long-Distance Truck and Bus Industries: Assessing for Effects on Driver Safety and Retention,” argues that high driver turnover stems more from cost-cutting business practices than from an actual lack of available drivers.
The report highlighted that carriers, particularly in the truckload sector, often prioritize efficiency and low operating costs over driver satisfaction. High turnover, in this case, is a predictable outcome. Carriers focus on lean operations and fast, efficient dispatching, which often requires drivers to stay on the road longer and be further from home.
To retain drivers, the study suggests that carriers might consider less efficient dispatching methods to allow drivers more home time, improve their quality of life, and decrease employee burnout. However, the trade-off for carriers would mean higher operating costs and fewer cost-savings.
Interestingly, the study found no definitive link between driver pay methods and safety outcomes, due to limited data on how different compensation methods affect driver behavior. However, it raises questions about whether changes to pay structures — like removing trucking’s exemption from overtime pay — could improve working conditions and reduce turnover.
Going forward, the researchers concluded that the FMCSA should focus on collecting better data on driver pay and safety to make informed policy decisions in the future.
Of course, one study isn’t going to settle the ongoing debate. In fact, it caused prompt responses – on opposite sides – from two of the industry’s most well-known advocacy organizations.
The American Trucking Associations (ATA), which represents 37,000 carriers, moving companies, and trucking suppliers nationwide, has the long-held belief that there is a shortage of tens of thousands of qualified drivers. ATA was not swayed by the FMCSA-funded study, saying that the report failed to take important points into account in the professional truck driver market, including issues of driver quality and barriers to entry for new drivers.
“Carriers repeatedly report that they have enough applicants for their open positions, however, what they do not have is enough applicants who meet the required qualifications to be hired,” ATA told Commercial Carrier Journal. “In some cases, carriers report having to reject 90% of applicants out of hand, because the applicants fail to meet at least one of the prerequisites to drive in interstate commerce.”
Land Line, the media arm of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), vehemently disagrees with the notion that a driver shortage exists at all. OOIDA represents more than 150,000 owner-operators and professional drivers.
OOIDA challenges the concept of a driver shortage by emphasizing that trucking’s high turnover and low pay — not a lack of drivers — are the core issues. According to its perspective, addressing these issues would retain more drivers, undermining claims that a true shortage exists.
Instead, it sees the framing of a “shortage” by the ATA and others as a way to avoid addressing pay and working conditions directly. Their stance is that improving driver treatment, rather than recruiting more people, would more effectively close this perceived gap.
In articles responding to the recent study, Land Line said the research “should put the driver shortage myth to rest” and that the “verdict is already in.” The OOIDA outlet was also critical of carriers for not disclosing driver pay data for the study and points to the ongoing market corrections of spot rates and contract rates as evidence that a driver shortage is nonexistent.
“There may not be enough data to show what effects truck driver pay has on safety and driver retention, but to nearly everyone driving long haul, it’s pretty clear: The current truck driver pay structure is not working,” Tyson Fisher wrote in Land Line.
The “driver shortage” debate highlights crucial issues in the trucking industry. While some like the ATA argue a shortage exists, others like OOIDA point to turnover, pay structures, and working conditions as the real factors behind unfilled positions.
The recent NASEM study suggests a new approach focused on improving driver quality of life rather than simply increasing recruitment. Historical evidence indicates that such a shift may be unlikely.
