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continues. host: the government affairs vice president for the truck carriers association. the headlines in the new york times. the biggest kink in america's supply chain, not enough truckers. caller: that's -- guest: that's a great headline. we are looking at 80,000 driver shortage. the supply chain crisis everybody is talking about. we recruit new drivers to the industry and hope we could fix some of these issues. that is very real and very out there. that is going on at the boards. this is issues that are certainly permeated throughout the country. host: when did their become not

enough truckers? was it during the pandemic or is it now after the demand for good has increased? guest: the drivers wanted sign that goes up in storefronts. going into the pandemic we were about 60,000 driver short. people spending more has led to that issue with that growing concern. they basically said at one point maybe i get out of the industry. we just haven't gotten them back. have remained relatively small due to social distancing. they have since reopened. we are acclimated to trade if you will. it has grown from 60,000 at the

start of covid 280,000 now. host: what goes into becoming a truck driver? guest: yet to demonstrate a proficiency for operating a motor vehicle. they are the safest, most well-trained drivers. making sure those drivers are taking those classes. making turns, traveling back. operating in an environment that protects themselves in those they share the road with. making sure they get their commercial drivers license. host: how long the school take? guest: that's a great question. i have seen programs anywhere from 4-6 weeks. this is not a one-day affair. they certainly bring them in so the driver showed persistent -- proficiency. host: how much does it cost and who pays for it? guest: that answer varies all

over the board. there are costs that could be incorporated. i don't have a roundabout number because each program is different. who pays for it? that also varies. there are carriers programs where they operate their own school. it could be as little as nothing for drivers. host: how much of the getting paid per hour? guest: good question. salary programs range all across the board. they could range from a per hour salary to being paid by the mile. i have seen general salaries to even annual salaries. it just depends on what would be comfortable with a driver. host: give us an idea in case somebody is thinking about switching careers. guest: bureau of labor statistics with the average truck driver salary at about

$46,000. host: any benefits? guest: there would be some benefits involved. those would range across the board. i'm not sure what health benefits would be included. there is a tendency today to include sign-on bonuses. you start driving for a carrier. i know one carrier that has the three salary increases this year alone. host: another part of this new york times headlines reads long hours and uncomfortable working conditions are leading to a shortage of truck drivers. guest: you have to remember the hours a professional truck drivers could work are regulated by the federal motor care safety. knowing those two numbers right there. our drivers on average are

averaging about six point five hours of drivetime per day. it could be about four or five hours. when you look at the supply chain crisis, that could be problematic. if we could figure out a way to expedite that process, we might be able to gain some efficiencies for drivers to get where they need to go. rather than waiting for them to be loaded, unloaded. there certainly is some maneuverability or flexibility. we focus on making the loading and unloading times. host: any thoughts to increase the hours they could drive per day? guest: this is the question of we need to work smarter, make better sense of the day.

before the driver shows up to get it. so the drivers time while they are waiting to get loaded or unloaded. this isn't a question of making more hours. what are you hearing the transportation department, pete buttigieg will do about the trucking situation? guest: they looking into it. they are looking into the trucking industry has been waiting if you will. making better sense of what that day looks like. it is certainly one of those issues. with the infrastructure bill, that would allow drivers to have interstate commerce. simply put, those drivers could operate today.

that is in 49 of the 50 states throughout the country. that would allow the 18-20-year-old drivers. here in alexandria, virginia into maryland, i would not be able to drive it. that language looks to remedy that situation. we could make sure drivers are fully trained. host: how else does the infrastructure build benefit the industry and on the others, hurt the industry? guest: i think everybody wants a firm -- first-class office space. would you dedicate $110 billion, that goes a long way to improving that aspect and getting drivers that office space. that is the big benefit right

there. eliminate the crumbling roadways that we have right now on our infrastructure. host: how many days are they out on the road versus at home. guest: it is up to the driver and what kind of job they are looking for. all aspects of this, you could imagine short-haul delivery drivers. the time allows. host: what times of the day are they allowed to drive? could they drive at night? guest: they could drive 24 hours a day. they operate 24 7, 365. host: what is the competition to

retaining drivers? guest: everybody is looking for drivers. there is the opportunity where everybody is looking for the next thing. we want them to driver somebody they are comfortable with and stay with that carrier. host: what about the big companies who deliver their goods, the amazons of the world, what are they paying their drivers? guest: that i do not know. it could be a per mile rate, it could be hourly. host: we will divide the lines by regions this morning. also a line for truck drivers. we want to hear from you. what is it like being in the industry? start dialing in now.

our guest, the government affairs for the association. you could text us. let's talk about vaccine mandates for your industry. the emergency standard, the etf does not apply to employees who does not report to workplace where other individuals such as coworkers are present. employees why they are -- while they are working for home and outdoors. does that apply to truckers? guest: in some cases because of the nature of the job. secretary walsh has come out and said we are waiting for that language to be clarified. we recently filed suit to vacate the rule to basically move forward.

involving the mask options. this is an industry that would continues to deliver vaccines, ppe, we have been stocking the shelves with the nation. host: given this mandate, possible what could he do? if it's not listed for truckers, what could he do to the industry? guest: there is concern that the driver shortage could grow without a doubt. we are showing about 50% of our driving force has been vaccinated. if this mandate were to go through, i would expect somewhere in the 37% range of drivers who would leave the industry. any change to that 80,000 would be dramatic.

looking at those numbers we have to keep freight moving. keep the shell stop. the panic buying at the start of the pandemic is something this nation shouldn't be going through again. host: welcome to the conversation, linda. caller: good morning. i was married to a driver. he was union and he made 90,000 a year. the thing between the union drivers and the gypsy drivers were that there were places they were able to rent a truck from big companies and their salaries were very low. they had to pay their own expenses, benefits and i think that finally has stopped.

i know in this area, bernie brown had probably one of the biggest ones for national freight and they closed up so that put out easily on the east coast thousands of drivers. so it's not just that there is a demand for drivers. it's also who is going to back the financing of the truck itself? host: let's talk about that. guest: there are carriers across the country, you have to remember that this industry is very strongly employed by independent contractors. people that are looking to start and grow their own businesses. some of our largest carriers operate on the road started with the notion that one man went out and bought one truck and started delivering freight. that american dream is out -- is

still alive today. there are very successful lease purchase programs where drivers can actually purchase a truck from a carrier. host: i want to give our line for our truck drivers. 202-748-8002. dial in please read we want your reaction to what you heard this morning and also what it's like for you. orlando is a driver in georgia. caller: good morning. i've been driving trucks about five years and i don't think we get paid enough because i bring home about $1200 a week, but i actually come up my check -- my

check is actually about $1500, but most of it is going to texas. i'm out here seven days a week and i drive about 11 hours a day and that's all the money are bring home where you got people that are laying on unemployment bringing home $1000 a week and i worked the whole pandemic and i just don't think that's fair. i think they need to make it, pass a bill because they talking about $25,000 they were going to give the truckers. i don't know what happened to that bill. host: benefit to the essential workers who worked during the pandemic. caller: we didn't get nothing. host: since there is a shortage of drivers, have you looked for other driving jobs where they

would pay you more because there's a demand for you russian mark caller: yes i did look, -- yes i did look because i've been with this company with this. i want to get paid more, but a lot of these trucking companies they say they're going to give you set miles but you don't get the $500 -- 500 miles a week. i might get a dollar a mile, but i would only get 500 miles. guest: i think i look at my paycheck to with the taxes taken out. i checked -- i shake my head as well. paid programs across the injury that industry very widely -- across the industry vary widely.

it's one of those things i note there are those out there making quite a bit of si no that there are those out there making white a bit of money. these are opportunities that exist throughout the industry without a doubt. caller: i was just going to say just to carry on from the previous caller is that there are huge differences in what the truckers experience out here in the west. i'm in washington, and i know in oregon and california we've got whatever right to work states. there are big differences. i was an airplane -- teamster airplane mechanic and i just seen how these guys, they are putting up with worse traffic. allowed some of the mexican

truckers to come into the united states and we've got like these horrible domestic companies, i think jb hunt is one of the biggest in the country out of arkansas. none of these guys are even unionized. that of course all this talk about autonomous trucking. that's another disrespectful thing to truckers. but anyway, that was just my comment. guest: first and foremost, our union membership is not necessarily, there are successful companies that are not using them. when you look at some of these things, and make these trucks,

there are very widely technologically equipment out there that are making these trucks safer. so when you look at autonomous victims vehicles, this is not the opportunity to replace a truck driver. we know that when you see a windshield -- this is an opportunity where don't think that the autonomous vehicles is one of those situations that is going to be a threat. this is an opportunity that will make your driving job better, easier. there's a lot of congestion. the becomes one of those issues that we as a professional truck driver have to deal with on a

daily basis. hopefully that infrastructure bill will add some dollars and continue operating. host: dave heller, i want to add it the conversation. pete buttigieg talked about lowering the age to become a truck driver. here he is. >> we've got to be very careful about safety. it's a mentorship, apprenticeship initiative that tries to manage the potential for there to be a safety trade-off. we want as many people to be well if i drivers as possible. but never at the expense of safety. we've got to make truck driving a better job. truck drivers, there's a reason the turnover is so high. the way they are compensated, they are often not compensated for their time means that their time is wasted freely sometimes

that -- sometimes when they are waiting for a load. it truckers do not have the option to work from home on zoom. they are the absolute backbone of our supply chain. we need to respect and in my view compass at them -- compensate them better than we have. host: paul, you are on the air with dave heller. caller: good morning. i want to say god bless all of my brothers and sisters out there driving. i was a day driver for 30 years. i am retired. i ended up my last year making about $75,000 before i retired and i want to say that the reason there's so many delays is because the government has put so many restrictions on the driving truckers. host: dave heller, what are the restriction's? guest: drive 11 hours a day,

work actually 14 hours. there's reasons for that and those reasons, the last thing we want -- leslie you want is someone driving -- and the last thing you want is someone driving outside of regulations. let's make better use or sense of these rules. tremendous amount of data being generated by our industry and that data can help highlight what that drivers day looks like. the delays, this is an opportunity to make that day so that they can adjust and keep driving. host: we are having some audio

issues with our connection this morning. what i'm going to do is show our viewers what the labor secretary had to say about mandates for the industry and then we are going to get you on the phone so we can keep talking to you this morning. here's the labor secretary last week. >> we've always had some pushback from truckers and the are rented think is most truckers are covered by this because they are driving a truck, they would not be covered by this. i heard some construction issues pushback on this. so i would suggest that as we think about this moving forward, when the president announced this in september we were having high levels of delta variant at that per together moment. lots of people were getting sick. people were dying and they still are everyday in america.

he recommended or ordered, whatever you want to call it, myself and osha them up with a standard. a lot of thought went into it. i feel that it is a good, well thought out plan. host: the labor secretary on those vaccine mandates. dave heller is our guest the. he is the vice president of the truckload carriers association here to talk about the trucking industry and vaccine mandates and what's going on with supply chain. we divide the lines by regional. we live in the eastern central part of the country, 202-748-8000. mountain pacific, 202-748-8001. truck drivers, your line is 202-748-8002. margie in pennsylvania, we will go to you next. caller: good morning. this is so interesting because just this very weekend my married granddaughter and her

husband are leaving for training. we've all over investigated this whole thing so we are very impressed with all the preparation and the training and the interviews and so forth. so if there is somebody out there thinking i think i will go be a truck driver, even the preparation to get to be interviewed, don't be naive. it is not easy. i am sure all drivers on the highway appreciate that because these truckers, five weeks long, half of it at desk work and half of it out on the road. i didn't have a real question. i just wanted to thank you for having this topic on today because it's very much affecting our whole family with our wonderful grand daughter and her husband setting out to be a team

of drivers. host: richard from colorado. good morning. caller: good morning. i'm getting ready to go to trucking school. i checked into it and changed careers in colorado through the workforce center. they do grants. a really good truck driving school. there is day coming up and it caught my interest. currently applying for a grant. they are actually booked up with students with the first class for the next set of students. in essence start until the summer 13th and it is a three week course. if you do it at norton -- if you do it at night, it can be a six-week course. they also do financial where you

don't have to start paying for your classes until you have been employed for like two months or something of that nature. host: how do you go about getting a grant? caller: it was through the workforce center of colorado, but it's through the job source center. i think all the states have, basically it's your unemployment centers. you talk to your career counselor. you get a career counselor at the workforce center which every state, i do believe, has one because it is part of the unemployment system. go to the paperwork and apply. that you're serious about it. plus they help you out with a resume and things of that nature. lot of the t