4.6 Million Jobs Needed In Transportation Sector Over Next Decade, Report Says
Transportation sector employers, including those in the trucking industry, will need to hire and train more than 4.6 million workers to address market needs, employment turnover, and retirements over a period from 2012 to 2022, a federal report unveiled Aug. 24 found.
Projections suggest that 417,000 of these positions will be established as a result of increased demands on transportation systems. The trucking industry is expected to have the largest number of openings over that time period at more than 2 million jobs, according to the report by the departments of Transportation, Education, and Labor.
Most of the new jobs, the report noted, will be in transit and ground passenger transportation sectors along West Coast markets, the Gulf region, the upper Mid-Atlantic, several mountain states and the Midwest. In the railroad and maritime sectors, the effect of a large percentage of older workers retiring will have a significant impact on the economy, even though the overall number of job openings may not as big as other sectors, the report said.
“Careers in the transportation industry can lift Americans into the middle class or help them stay there, and this report concludes that there will be more job opportunities in the near future,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said. “We want to fill all these new positions, so industry and government must increase recruitment and help young people get the skills, training and apprenticeships they need to gain entry into these careers.”
