NWRA Commends Biden Administration for Initiative to Increase Trucking Workforce
Arlington, VA – The Biden administration announced the “Driving Good Jobs” initiative on December 16 across multiple federal agencies to attract and retain workers in the trucking industry. The federal departments of transportation and labor will work together on a 90-day effort to engage with industry leaders, drivers and other stakeholders to improve recruitment and retention in the industry. NWRA has already conducted outreach seeking to provide stakeholder input for the initiative.
“We appreciate the Biden administration taking these steps to address the driver shortage,” said Darrell Smith, president and CEO of the National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA). “NWRA has long supported increasing federal support for job training programs as well as for veterans to address the hiring challenges facing the waste and recycling industry due to shortages of commercial vehicle drivers.”
The waste and recycling industry has experienced a growing labor shortage over the past several years, particularly when it comes to hiring individuals with a commercial driver’s license (CDL). The private sector waste and recycling industry has a commercial motor vehicle fleet of more than 100,000 waste, recycling and compost collection trucks and an even greater number of CDL drivers.
Driving for the industry offers numerous advantages such as rising wages, a five-day workweek, set daily work schedules and being able to return home at the end of each day’s shift, unlike long-haul drivers. Despite all this, our industry’s companies are increasingly struggling to find enough CDL drivers.
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ABOUT NWRA
The National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA) represents the private sector waste and recycling services industry. Association members conduct business in all 50 states and include companies that manage waste, recycling and medical waste, equipment manufacturers and distributors, and a variety of other service providers. For more information about NWRA, please visit www.wasterecycling.org.
Contact
Brandon Wright
National Waste and Recycling Association
bwright@wasterecycling.org
202-364-3706
