Even In A Slow Economy, Truck Driving Jobs Remain In High Demand

Is It Time To Change Careers?

With a slow economy, many people are losing their jobs, being laid-off, or are worried about one or the other. Many are considering changing careers, and are hoping to find a good paying job that takes little training, is fairly quick and easy to get into, is in demand, is enjoyable, and offers a good future that they can count on. Well, buckle up your seat belts because truck driving might be the perfect career choice for you!

Many people are under the impression that high fuel prices have been killing the trucking industry. It's true in some sense - many, many companies have been going bankrupt. But most often you'll find that these are the smaller, poorly financed companies that were struggling to begin with. A slow economy and high fuel prices will certainly weed out the weaker players, and in a commodity business like truck driving, there are a lot of em.

Still A High Demand For Truck Drivers

But freight is still flowing, and the demand for truck drivers remains high. If many companies are going out of business, how can it be that the other companies are still hiring? There are several reasons for this.

Truckers Want To Make More Money Too!

When freight gets slow, not all companies are equally good at keeping their drivers moving. As freight fluctuates and the number of drivers a company has working for them at any given time fluctuates, sometimes there are too many drivers and too little freight. Because truck driving jobs are plentiful even during slow times, as you can see from this extensive listing of truck driving jobs in Atlanta, Georgia for example, drivers tend to be quite impatient when it comes to getting the miles they are looking for. Often times a few slow weeks will send them packing down the road hoping to find a better job with a company that can keep them rolling. So the turnover, or churn rate, stays high in the industry and therefore most companies are hiring year round, even when times are toughest.

The Turnover Always Remains High

The industry is famous for a high rate of turnover. Traditionally this is because there is a shortage of qualified drivers to choose from, so jobs are fairly easy to come by. On top of that, truck driving is not an easy job. I've written other articles that talk in detail about how the truck driving lifestyle is not an easy one for most people to adapt to, and I would state without hesitation that truck driving is not for everyone. So even in good times, the trucking industry always suffers from a high rate of turnover.

Negotiating Better Prices On New Equipment

During hard times, purchasing of new trucks often slows dramatically. Dealerships need to keep selling however and so often times trucking companies can negotiate much lower prices for new trucks. Combine these new trucks with the ability to (hopefully) steal away contracts and drivers from other companies, and you now see that the companies that took the best care of their finances during the good times can take tremendous advantage of it during the slower times.

Bigger Companies Have Their Eye On Expansion

How can some companies be hiring while others are going broke? Because as the smaller companies struggle to survive, the larger, better financed companies can take advantage of them. Larger companies can operate at a loss for a time, and will do so, if they believe they will come out ahead later on. By offering to haul freight at a cheaper rate than a shipper is currently paying in exchange for a new contract with them down the road, the larger companies can operate at a loss for a short time and steal away contracts from the weaker players, often times hurting or wiping out the weaker players in the process. Then when the economy picks up again, the larger company has expanded its customer base, therefore expanding the number of trucks and drivers it can maintain in its fleet.

Trucking Jobs Are Always Available

So as you can see, there are a large number of reasons - and there are plenty more than the ones I have listed here - truck drivers are always in demand no matter what the economy throws at us.