Wanted: 400,000 truck drivers

It is well known that unemployment is still at an all time high in our country. The problem is nationwide and each individual state is looking for ways to get their residents back into the job force. Businesses are doing their part too—in Sacramento, California where I am located, 1500 people showed up to apply for limited employment positions at the local Campbell’s Soup Factory. While I love that businesses are trying to be a solution to the unemployment problem, it is just unfortunate that there are way too many people who are unemployed and this number outweighs the available job opportunities. This morning, I came across an industry that is calling out to the employed.

According to CNN Money, the U.S. trucking industry will need to hire about 200,000 drivers by the end of this year, and will need to add another 200,000 by the end of 2011, according to the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals. Overall the industry lost almost 150,000 driving jobs since the start of 2008.

Rosalyn Wilson, the author of the report that was sponsored by Penske Logistics, states that the forecasts is for only a 4% to 6% growth in freight traffic for trucks this year and next, which Wilson says is a conservative estimate. Typically freight grows by about 10% coming out of a recession, she said.

I find it very interesting to know that freight grows by such high percentages after a recession—Read more here and tweet me your thoughts.

www.twitter.com/ronideutch