Manitoba will need 4,300 drivers over next five years
Manitoba needs to recruit, train, and retain a new driver every eight hours, every day, for the next four years to meet industry demand, a trucking organization official warned.
The harsh reality of the driver shortage was brought to light as the Manitoba government released its Labour Market Outlook for 2022 to 2026, showing the trucking industry has an expected annual labor gap of 470 transport truck drivers.
The report also forecasts there will be 4,300 job openings for transport truck drivers over the next five years.
“The gap of 470 drivers is a forecast. The reality is that we need to bring 4,300 people over the next four years into industry to meet demand,” Aaron Dolyniuk, executive director of the Manitoba Trucking Association (MTA) told TruckNews.com.
Job-seekers don’t necessarily think about how the groceries arrived at the store, or how the playground was delivered to the park, Dolyniuk said. “But as industry members, we know that over 90% of goods have been on a truck at some point in their journey from producer to consumer.”
Variety of opportunities
He said people may not be aware of the huge variety of opportunities that exist in the industry. “A truck driver may not be the best fit, but I guarantee you there’s a fit for you somewhere in trucking, whether that’s the shop, operations, or other supporting areas such as safety, human resources, IT, finance, and more,” he added.
Always looking to attract more talent, the MTA is investing in promoting the industry. The association traditionally focused on driver training supports, with the province funding training since 2008.
Career promotion
Presently it has expanded its scope to industry-wide outreach and career promotion. “Being able to promote [Trucking HR Canada’s] Career ExpressWay is a great example of that expansion. There is a career opportunity for everyone in our industry, and we welcome career-seekers to explore what that means for them,” Dolyniuk said.
He added that MTA will continue to focus on young people and under-represented groups and show how competitive trucking can be with other industries related to flexibility, work-life balance, benefits, opportunity and career growth.
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So sick and tired of hearing about the mythical driver shortage.Time to change the subject!!
but it is difficult to apply from another country
Then someone needs to start funding the training and MPI has to get its act together about testing. Quality and length time to obtain a test
When you love your job keep it !
Nothing is perfect and it doesn’t matter what field your in … if you don’t like what your doing just move on …
There isn’t a shortage of drivers for good trucking companies, word of mouth from employees goes far for recruiting new drivers and owner operators.
Just because someone buys more trucks just to try to take fright away from a different carrier by selling lmia’s to foreign workers is not indicative of a driver shortage.