Everywhere you go you see the signs. Restaurants. Big box retailers. Home improvement stores. Gas stations. Even government offices. “Help Wanted.” “Now hiring.” They’re all over the place.
While it’s clear now is a good time to be a job seeker, the employment market isn’t as rosy for the other side.
It’s hard for businesses to make a good hire for an open position when a qualified candidate can conceivably land a job anywhere. In the trucking industry, where the driver and technician employment shortages continue to stunt business growth and productivity, companies are discovering it takes clever, proactive recruiting practices to entice young talent and even more effort to keep them around.
According to a 2018 survey by Randall-Reilly (publisher of Trucks, Parts, Service) of more than 1,200 professional technicians in the trucking, agriculture, construction and automotive industries, six in 10 technicians admit they are a pay raise away from abandoning their current position for work in another industry. These technicians, 64 percent of which already earn at least $50,000 a year, cite burgeoning job markets in other fields and the potential for higher pay, stronger insurance packages, more paid time off and other benefits as the enticements that would lead them out of the trucking industry.
The grass might not actually be greener, but for a lot of workers it sure looks like it.
In the final section of our 2019 special report on trucking’s technician shortage, TPS turns its attention to the future — and the employment challenges that currently exist and are likely to persist in the coming years for one of America’s most vital industries.
To read more from Part IV of our special report, please see below:
A national challenge: Trucking isn’t the only industry facing an employment shortage
Click here to download the Randall-Reilly technician wage survey
