COLUMBIA, S.C. — As the truck driver shortage continues, local trucking schools are overwhelmed with students applying, more than they can accommodate.
This according to the South Carolina Trucking Association.
For months, reports of supply chain disruptions and labor shortages filled the news.
Now, experts say demand for goods is slowing a bit but demand for drivers is not.
“There’s still a shortage of equipment but also drivers, and that keeps the pressure on,” explained the president of the South Carolina Trucking Association, Rick Todd.
Todd said businesses are boosting benefits and pay to attract workers. Those incentives are working and more people are signing up to get a commercial driver’s license (CDL) for a driving job, but Todd said some schools can’t keep up.
“We just don’t have enough training capacity. Whether it’s between the technical colleges offering CDL training or private schools that do the same thing, there’s just not enough of that available. So, people are on waitlists," shared Todd.
Roadmaster Drivers School in Columbia is one of those programs seeing high demand for training.
President Brad Ball said sign-ups are exceeding the number of spaces they have available for students.
The Columbia location trains about eight students a week, although the number of sign-ups is higher than that.
Ball said the wait time for students is minimal. "Usually they just move to the next class, we start a new class every Monday so the wait isn’t very long.”
Ball added that the demand to fill positions is high due to the growing economy and older drivers retiring. “Our shortage of drivers across the nation is about 80,000 short, it’s expected to grow to 130,000 short by the year 2030,” said Ball.
To help improve these numbers, Todd said continued support of technical colleges and ready-to-work programs from the state is crucial.