The United States is currently experiencing a shortage of truck drivers to transport goods, disproportionately affecting states, such as Texas, that economically rely on the industry.
Due to the location of the state, Texas will suffer from a freight recession more than just about any other state, according to The Trucker. Only California is ahead of Texas in vehicle miles traveled annually.
The trucking industry annually provides 1.1 million jobs and $91.6 billion in Gross State Product across Texas, according to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT).
Texas also transports 73% of the goods it manufactures by truck, per The Trucker.
Similarly, 85% of trade between Texas and Mexico, its top international trade partner, is transported via trucks.
Nationally, the American Trucking Associations (ATA) says there were 8.4 million jobs related to the trucking industry in 2022, with 3.54 million drivers on the road.
Chris Spear, president and CEO of the ATA, spoke before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce in March to explain that there is a growing shortage of truck drivers. Spear said that there was a deficit of 78,000 qualified drivers in 2022.
“This figure is expected to increase to 160,000 by 2031. Furthermore, over the next decade, the industry will need to hire roughly 1.2 million new drivers to keep pace with growing demand and to replace an aging workforce,” said Spear.
A variety of factors, such as an aging workforce and a high turnover rate for drivers, have contributed to the driver shortage.
The average age of the 3.5 million national truck drivers is 46, and more than half of the current workforce will have passed retirement age by 2030, according to an April 2022 article published by the Texas Comptroller’s Office.
“We are losing a generation of drivers, and we aren’t replacing them with a generation of potential drivers that is large enough,” said John Esparza, chief executive officer and president of the Texas Trucking Association, per the Texas comptroller.
In addition to an aging workforce, trucking has one of the highest turnover rates of any industry in the world. In 2018, the ATA stated that the turnover rate for large fleet companies was 89%, but Esparza said that some companies are even higher.
“Some [companies] have 100 percent turnover, and that’s terrible,” said Esparza, per the Texas comptroller.
“The demands on the driver and the fact that they can easily make six figures in the world today, that’s an amazing number to think about. It speaks to the importance of driving trucks. They are the linchpin in the links of the supply chain.”
While there may not be a simple solution for the shortage, some companies have begun to offer additional compensation for those who enter the industry.
Last year, Walmart announced that first-year drivers could earn up to $110,000, potentially even more, as they gain experience, per Forbes.
Certain states have also begun to take action to lessen the effects of the shortage.
In 2017, Texas passed Senate Bill 1524, which allows some trucks to carry an increased load.
The bill permits certain trucks to carry up to 100,000 pounds of goods, making for fewer trips and drivers required to transport the same amount of goods.
Automation has provided one potential solution to the shortage, and Esparza believes it can impact the industry within the next few years.
“Someone is in the back of the cab, monitoring the systems, but in the next couple of years, that person won’t be there,” said Esparza, per the Texas comptroller.
“It will be touchless. It’s a part of the solution to the driver shortage.”
