The US labor force participation has flat-lined at about 63% for the last 5 years. So compared to 2 decades ago, there are about 18-20 million working-age Americans who simply don't work.
Over regulated and under paid. Bad combination.
Pay has to be right. Higher costs will mean higher costs of goods. When you have an artificial floor (minimum wage) you’re pre-determining the starting point for all goods & services.
If Blocksom could get his “CDL” - commercial driver’s license
Not sure I want to be on the same highway with an 87 year-old truck driver,
> Who will do these jobs?
People who think they are getting paid enough. Supply, may then meet demand.
I can retire in a little over a year. I’ve thought abut leaving the downtown office to become a truck driver. But the risks and number of hoops you have to jump through make it not worth it for less than a couple hundred thousand a year. Assuming I’m driving someone else’s truck.
They are getting destroyed by draconian (aka fascist) regulation.
My grand-daughter’s boyfriend was driving his truck with one of those third “drop axles” and was cited for either not using it or using it when he shouldn’t (I forget which). He doesn’t make all that much money a year (maybe $35k). The ticket was for $3,500.
Now 40 years ago...
That’s one of the other by-products of illegal immigration, Americans thumb their noses at this kind of work because of the stigma that such jobs are only done by illegals. Add in welfare that makes them not have to do such jobs, and well, here we are.
The US labor force participation has flat-lined at about 63% for the last 5 years. So compared to 2 decades ago, there are about 18-20 million working-age Americans who simply don't work.
They want Mexicans to drive. That is why NAFTA lets drivers across the borders. OF course Mexican drivers can drive in the US, but US drivers are killed and robbed in Mexico.
Talk to ANY OTR driver and they will end this story really darn quick...low pay, long hours, on the road for weeks at a time. Required fleet lease backs....you name it.
“Who will do these jobs? “
A company VP who used commercial drivers told me that they mostly used old men as younger men either could not pass the drug test or they had legal issues (lost their license or significant violations) that ruled them out. I see signs all over the more industrial areas of town advertising, “Hiring CDL’s”
Incidentally, I went to Quest to have some blood work. There was a parade of tree cutters coming in for their, apparently, weekly piss tests. A friend suggested that at least some of them were on probation. But one group arrived in their truck with the shredder in tow. They all trotted in, peed and left. Surely they weren’t all on probation.
One of my renters was a retired long-haul trucker. His old company called him up and made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. So, he’s back on the road.
How about some of those idiots who pay $60K a year to get worthless Women's Studies or Afro-Centric Culture ....degrees? And then work as a barista.
Instead of being $200k-$250K in debt after 4 years, you could actually be ahead.
We have a millions upon millions of lazy layabouts collecting welfare and EBT in our cities. Wouldn't it be nice to get these people real jobs?
There are two catches:
I wish some brilliant entrepreneur could envision a way to make use of this potential labor pool. My personal opinion is that only divine grace can pull these people out of their muck, and chances for a mass revival are mighty slim.
Push welfare to trucker programs with strict rules on job seeking and no vice purchases.
Time for a major overhaul of the railroad freight service, where one engineer can “haul” many, many, truckloads of freight, and most truck driver jobs can go “local”.
My grandson drove truck for a while, nationwide, but it only took him a couple of years of it to get sick of it, so, he left the trade.
I think rail is the way to go for long haul freight.
Raise wages, cut regulation. They will come.
Of course is this the main reason for the push to driver-less cars?
Seems to me, we need to figure out a way to get goods transported by other than trucks. Here in the SF Bay Area, the highway leading out of here for the Central Valley and Los Angeles is perpetually clogged, particularly at commute times, with OTR 18 wheelers. We have a friend whose son drives a truck from Los Angeles to The Bay Area five days a week, sometimes six. The trucks on that route turn around each and every day. Tractors bring in full trailer on each end, and hook up to a new load, rinse and repeat. Even at 55mph, it’s only a day’s drive each way. Trains are a joke today, because they can’t match that kind of turnaround. Stupid!
Oh gee, hey maybe Juan will do it.
Trump has these people freaking out, as if U. S. Citizens won’t take any jobs now.
As the wall comes closer, it’s feak-out time.
The newbies can't back. Dont know how many times we have backed trucks for guys just to move the process along. Heaven forbid that they dont watch signs and get a half mile down the road to a low bridge and half to back the rig all the way back.