Liverpool (WSYR-TV) - Economists and industry analysts say that the increase in trucks on the road hauling freight is a sign the economy is starting to pick up. With more products to pull, companies, including ones in Central New York, are looking for more drivers to fill the need.
The U.S. trucking industry will need to fill about 400,000 positions by the end of 2011, half of which will added by the end of 2010.
The jobs are literally waiting for people once they graduate from trucking schools like the national tractor trailer school in Liverpool. And that's because truck industry analysts predict freight traffic to pick up to six percent.
Jose Contreras is going to finish the program in just three weeks, and has never had this many job offers before. "I have seven pre-hire letters from seven different companies. So what it means now is I have choices now," he said.
Classmate Mike Baldwin also has multiple offers. The jobs typically pay about $40,000 per year, and Baldwin says he is looking forward to earning that kind of money. "It's nice to know people are looking for you," he said.
Don Marshall, of ARG Trucking Corporation, says his company simply needs more drivers. "We need more people to deliver the products. We're running out of people and drivers," he said, with a laugh.
Recently, things in the industry haven't been as good as they are now. "Last year we didn't need any drivers," said Mike Pike from Wadhams Enterprises. "Last year in the first six months in the previous year of 2009, we didn't hire one driver. This year we're looking for 20 drivers."
All the demand is also good news for Harry Kowalchyk and the National Tractor Trailer School. Kowalchyk knows, however, that it is all part of a bigger picture. "The reason for the need of drivers is the expansion of the transportation industry, they're hiring back, manufacturing is picking up substantially and retail sales are starting to pick up. All of that factors into some sort of transportation and the trucking industry transports about 81 percent of what's produced in the U.S today."
Those facts give Contreras as sense of security. "Its personal gain that you get know that once you get out of here you get a job and you can work all you want"
Last year it took drivers who graduated from the National Tractor Trailer School up to 90 days to find a job. Now some students are getting those jobs in less than a month.
The typical age of the current truck driver will also play into the need for more hires, especially since one-in-six are 55 or older.
