The Oct. 10 issue of Time magazine names trucking as one of the five U.S. jobs least likely to be outsourced.
“The U.S. is projected to add 574,000 truck-driving jobs over the next decade,” says the article “Five Jobs for Our Shores.” The additions stem from the growing economy and from “companies like Wal-Mart shipping freight from China,” the magazine says.
The American Trucking Associations is pleased trucking was included. “When a major publication like Time magazine singles out trucking as a prime source of employment, that combined with our driver shortage is a plus,” said ATA spokesman Mike Russell.
While people possibly will decide to become a trucker after reading the article, it’s more likely to inspire guidance counselors, Russell said. “It is a major selling point when you can say your job is never going to be outsourced overseas, because that is a serious issue in the work force today.”
The Time article also reports an ongoing driver shortage, something that isn’t news to readers of trucking publications.
Time attributes the shortage to the industry’s poor public image, though the industry contends that other reasons are high fuel prices, complicated hours-of-service rules and little home time.
All those things together contribute to a bad public image, said Chris Burruss, president of the Truckload Carriers Association. “I don’t think it’s as simple as being able to tie it to one issue,” Burruss said.
The other “Jobs for Our Shores” listed in the magazine were petroleum geologist, fitness and aerobics instructor, nurse and financial planner.
