May 19, 2013
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) -- Trucking companies across America are scrambling to hire new drivers, who have been tough to find even during the recession.
Now a supply chain expert says the U.S. faces a critical shortage of truck drivers in the next few years as the economy expands and demand for goods increases.
Page Siplon, director of the Georgia Center of Innovation for Logistics, issued a report Tuesday showing the U.S. expects to add more than 115,000 truck driver jobs per year through 2016. But just over 16,000 Americans a year are getting trained to fill those jobs.
Matt Handte of the Georgia company Tribe Transportation says younger workers don't want to spend days on the road away from their families. He says most of his company's 160 drivers are in their 50s.
