U.S. Factories Suffer Shortage of Skilled American Workers

Why Tons Of Trucking Jobs Are Difficult To Fill

July 25, 2012 by John Afleck

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. But these positions are difficult to fill, and even harder to keep filled.

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?

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. 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.

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. Derek Leathers, president and chief operating officer at Werner, said that his company has about 100 open long-haul truck driving positions. The current shortage of truckers has forced his company to work much harder than it used to in order to fill these positions, spending more money on advertising and additional recruiting staff.

Werner is offering a $5,000 signing bonus for its “team driver” positions, where two drivers are together in one truck, working in shifts so that the truck can cover as much as 1,000 miles a day. The company also offers paid apprenticeships to veterans, hiring 35 of them per month. Trucking can be good work, and even highly lucrative, but it will never be an easy choice.

Would you take on a job as a truck driver? Why or why not?

Source: Yahoo News

Image: Truck Addicts

U.S. Factories Suffer Shortage of Skilled American Workers

February 17, 2012 by John Afleck

U.S. factories are creating many new jobs. But owners are hard pressed to find skilled American workers to fill them.

There is a “critical shortage of machinists,” a common and crucial position in factories, said Rob Akers, vice president at the National Tooling and Machining Association. “Enrollment in this field in technical schools has been down for a long time.”

The problem comes at a terrible time. Domestic contract manufacturers — known as “job shops” — are seeing a boom in business. In the case of Win-Tech, a Kennesaw, Ga., manufacturer, orders are coming in fast and furious from its customers in the defense and aerospace industries. But the company’s owner Dennis Winslow is more concerned than elated. Winslow’s been trying to add 12 more workers to his staff of 42 to meet the increased demand, but he’s struggling.

For more than a year, Winslow has been looking for manual machinists, quality control inspectors and machinists trained to use computer-controlled systems. He’s advertised the jobs locally as well on popular online recruiting websites, such as Monster.com (MWW). He said he may be forced to hire people who are not fully skilled, and then train them.

As the United States outsourced its manufacturing jobs over the last few decades, the country lost a significant chunk of its manufacturing talent pool, said Mitch Free, CEO of MFG.com, an online directory that matches businesses with domestic manufacturers. Machinists make about $60,000 a year. But with many logging overtime lately, Free said that income can get close to $100,000 a year.

Source: CNN

Image: ABC Local

Why Tons Of Trucking Jobs Are Difficult To Fill