ARLINGTON, VA – The North American trucking industry needs to find a way to recruit younger drivers or face a crisis that could halt freight movements.

Those are the findings of the latest research by the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI).

The institute today released “Analysis of Truck Driver Age Demographics Across Two Decades,” a white paper focusing on demographic data and the rising average age of truck drivers.

It crunches data from the U.S. Census Bureau to find that the trucking industry is disproportionately dependent on employees 45 years of age or older, many of whom will retire in the next 10-20 years.

Complicating this is a sharp decrease over the past 20 years in the number of younger drivers that make up the industry, particularly those 35 and under.

“The average age of our current driver workforce is 52 and we’re noticing fewer and fewer younger individuals applying for jobs in recent years,” said Keith Tuttle, founder of Motor Carrier Service, Inc. and a member of ATRI’s Research Advisory Committee.

“If the industry doesn’t collectively figure out how to recruit younger drivers, we may not have anyone left to haul freight in the coming decades. With more and more of the nation’s freight being hauled by trucks now and in the future, this is a piece of the puzzle we have to solve.”

The report discusses the issues impacting the industry’s ability to attract younger drivers, and offers solutions to the problem including an increased vocational presence for the trucking industry and closing the gap between high school and CDL eligibility.