NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- During tough economic times with high unemployment, Americans should be jumping at any chance to work, but trucking companies are struggling to hire drivers.
There are as many as 200,000 job openings nationwide for long haul truckers, according to David Heller, director of safety and policy for the Truckload Carriers Association.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics also sees the demand for truckers increasing, up from the 1.5 million drivers on the road now. It expects trucking to add 330,100 jobs between 2010 and 2020, an increase of 20%.
But these positions are difficult to fill, and even harder to keep filled.
"Nobody wants to drive a truck," said Heller.
The pay isn't bad: Truckers earn a median annual wage of $37,930, which is $4,000 more than the median wage for all jobs, according to the BLS. The top 10% of truck drivers make more than $58,000 per year.
So why do so many long-haul trucking jobs remain unfilled?
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First, it's difficult to get certified. The biggest hurdle for the unemployed is probably getting a commercial driver's license, which requires a training course that's up to eight weeks long and costs about $6,000.
"Drivers are put under intense scrutiny before they get into the industry, and for good reason," said Brett Aquila, trucker and creator of the blog TruckingTruth. "It's incredibly risky putting someone behind the wheel of an 80,000 pound truck with your company's name on it."
And when drivers do get on the road, they find the long-haul lifestyle isn't easy, living for weeks at a time in the cramped confines of the back of the truck.
"You have a gigantic culture shock when someone is suddenly living on the road in a space the size of a walk-in closet," said Aquila. "Then you have the pressure, the erratic sleep patterns, and the time away from home, family, and friends."
For these reasons, job turnover is high for truckers. At the same time, as the economy stages a gradual recovery, more new positions are becoming available.

 

I heard an advertisment for hiring for 'regional truckers yesterday on the radio. Salaries of between $850-1200 per week and a $2000 hiring bonus. Must be 21 yo, Class A driver's license with verifiable experience, and a clean driving record, AND they said that you would be home almost every night (if that appeals to you).

USMCFLYR

 

I have a couple of friends who got their CDL for less than $5,000 and are making about $50,000 a year.

 

I'm not sure what this has to do with a pilot?

 

Other than the "traveling", nothing.
It has to do with obtaining gainful employment during a harsh economical situation to feed and clothed your family while trying to also keep them healthy. But then again I don't know what that would have to do with a pilot either...............

 

It costs us more to get our licenses to start out making very little money building our skills, until we get to the airlines where we are responsible for many lives and operating a more complicated machine for a fraction of what we should be making.

 

I got it BD100, nice post.

On a related note, I don't blame people for not hitting the road to go make $37k/yr driving a truck. Granted we do that too, but at least we have a long term goal of better schedule and salary... a trucker can eventually make $58k/yr, but you still need to log a certain amount of miles to earn that, so your schedule never really improves. Tough job for sure.

 

We USED to have long term goals of better schedules and salaries. That's not the case anymore. And will not be again.

 

Anytime there are furloughs, concessions or sh!tty situations (everyday now it seems) we joke around asking what that truck driving school number was!

 

Just replace the word truck driver with pilot and you should have your answer. Only our loans are a lot more then 8K.

Sounds like they have their own Roger C in the trucking industry putting out crap like this. Now if we only had an article that said there was 200,000 pilot jobs going unfilled