Occupational Loyalties Among Truck Drivers

With projections for the 1990s of a 1.3% annual increase in demand for truckers, the shortage of intercity truck drivers has emerged as a major issue in transportation. The severity and progression of the driver shortage problem depends crucially on the exit behavior of existing drivers - that is, the larger the number of drivers exiting the occupation per unit time, the worse the driver shortage. To address this issue, selected characteristics of drivers and their stated occupational intentions were examined. It was found that, the higher the driver's formal education, the greater the number of possible occupation alternatives, resulting in a greater likelihood for exiting the profession. Therefore, the cost of better educated drivers, who require less management to perform given tasks, is higher turnover and/or more competitive salaries. Also, experience in higher paying occupations was found to be associated with intentions to exit trucking.