Economics drive problems with retention, professor says

The trucking industry’s problems with driver recruitment, retention and safety are economic rather than technical.

That’s according to the experience and research of Michael Belzer, a professor at Wayne State University and former tank truck driver who has been studying the economics of trucking for more than three decades.

Belzer presented some of his research to FMCSA’s Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee on Monday, July 19, during the first day of a two-day summit amongst industry stakeholders and regulators.

One of the key problems identified by Belzer’s research is something that should be obvious to anyone familiar with the trucking industry: drivers work long hours for low wages, especially when most don’t receive any compensation for nondriving duties.

Half of all truck drivers work more than 60 hours a week. Twenty percent of drivers work more than 4,000 hours per year – more than two full-time jobs.

Most truck drivers earn little or nothing for nondriving labor, which averages out to about 25% of their work time.

Belzer’s solution is for the U.S. departments of Labor and Transportation to work together to make changes that will allow truckers to be fairly compensated for the nondriving work time.

“Off-duty drivers do not get paid for time that doesn’t belong to them,” Belzer said. “We have to put a floor under labor standards (in trucking). It simply means a foundation that everyone has to live by. Trucking should have to live by, and the customers and clients of trucking should have to live by, the standards everyone else has to live by. We’re going to treat you with respect because we have to pay you.”

Other key takeaways from Belzer’s research: There is no driver shortage. Millions of people hold a commercial driver’s license but don’t use it. And new drivers are created and recruited all the time, but carriers do not retain them.

“If we want to retain drivers… it’s going to be a lot easier if they’re not working themselves to death,” Belzer said.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association said it supports FMCSA’s focus on improving driver retention.

“Professor Belzer’s presentation echoed solutions that we’ve been talking about for years – fair pay, better working conditions, and eliminating regulations that contribute to the driver churn like the Fair Labor Standards Act exemption for motor carriers,” said Jay Grimes, OOIDA director of federal affairs.

OOIDA President and CEO Todd Spencer is a member of the MCSAC and serves as chair of a new 25-member commercial motor vehicle driver panel.

On the second and final day of its virtual meeting, MCSAC members weighed in about the aging demographic of the commercial motor vehicle driver workforce on the truck and bus industries and “whether this trend will exacerbate the driver shortage problem.”

The talk quickly turned to a discussion of the working conditions that many drivers face – long hours, low pay, and a lack of access to safe parking and healthy meals. As a result of these conditions, many CDL holders have left the industry.

“The nightly struggle for so many is being able to get off the road and find a safe place to park… those are all issues that contribute to the turnover of good, safe, seasoned professional drivers opting for another career,” OOIDA’s Spencer said during the discussion. “And those things are going to exist for new people coming into the industry too.”

Spencer also urged MCSAC to make the recommendation that the overtime exemption for truck drivers under the Fair Labor Standards Act be abolished. LL