Across New York, trucking outfits are scrambling for drivers as veterans retire and fewer young workers bother lining up for Commercial Driver’s Licenses. Training rooms outside Syracuse are full and hiring events are busy from one end of the state to the other, with would‑be drivers ranging from their early 20s to their late 50s. Carriers say that is the good news. The bad news is that steady classroom signups do not always turn into enough people actually willing to haul freight.
Jason Grasso, who runs a new CDL training program at Page Transportation near Syracuse, says the enrollment numbers look fine on paper but still leave him sweating over open routes. “You can have all the trucks and fuel, but if you don't have anyone to drive them, you'll have to wait,” Grasso told Spectrum News. His students span from early 20‑somethings to late‑career switchers in their 50s, and he calls recruiting new drivers the industry’s biggest headache, not classroom capacity.
Industry Numbers Point To A Wider Gap
The crunch is not just a Central New York story. Nationally, the American Trucking Associations pegged the driver shortfall at roughly 80,000 in 2022 and warned it could climb toward 160,000 in the coming decade, according to Trucking Dive. Fleets say that kind of gap pushes up operating costs and leaves shippers waiting on time‑sensitive loads that have nowhere near enough people to move them.
What’s Driving The Gap
Industry analysts point to a familiar list of culprits: an aging driver pool, high turnover and the wear‑and‑tear lifestyle of long‑haul work. Federal data backs up at least part of the story. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects steady demand for heavy and tractor‑trailer truck drivers and shows that wages have climbed in recent years, yet those pay bumps still have not solved the recruiting problem. Employers also point to new regulations and tighter margins that make bringing in and keeping drivers a more expensive proposition.
Local Programs Try To Bridge The Gap
In New York, groups are trying to chip away at the problem from the ground up. The Shay Legacy Foundation is working to lower the financial barrier to entry with scholarships, a state‑of‑the‑art simulator and a hiring portal that connects fresh CDL grads to carriers looking for help.
Vincent DiNino, who coordinates CDL programs for the Trucking Association of New York and manages the foundation, told Spectrum News that the group’s internal network has about 500 members. They help organize career days with BOCES and other schools in an effort to catch potential drivers earlier. On its website, the Shay Legacy Foundation lays out scholarship and training resources aimed squarely at cutting up‑front costs for students who might otherwise never get behind the wheel.
Policy Tools Under Consideration
In Washington, regulators are testing whether tweaks to the rulebook can help. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Safe Driver Apprenticeship Pilot lets 18‑ to 20‑year‑olds train for interstate work under strict benchmarks, and agencies are now debating whether similar waivers should be extended to broaden the pool of candidates.
According to quarterly updates from the program, FMCSA tracks detailed training benchmarks and data collection, and the agency has opened the door to public comment as industry groups, safety advocates and others weigh the tradeoffs between safety and recruitment needs (FMCSA). Critics warn that dropping the age threshold without strong oversight could raise safety risks on already crowded highways.
On the ground in New York, the driver shortage is not an abstract policy debate. For businesses that rely on trucks, it shows up as higher shipping costs, occasional delivery delays and tighter capacity when peak season hits. For job seekers, the squeeze has opened a lane into steady, often well‑paid work that can come with company‑sponsored training and scholarship help, as long as they can navigate licensing hurdles and long stretches away from home. Trainers and industry groups say it will take a blend of funding, outreach and policy changes to keep New York’s rigs rolling and its freight on schedule.
