Australia, Industry Issues, Transport Features

An “attractive” profession: Why trucking appeals

Workskil Australia CEO Nicole Dwyer speaks to ATN about why the not-for-profit is helping people find their place in Australia’s road transport sector

At the time of writing, Australia’s overall labour force is in good shape. The unemployment rate of around four per cent is low, while the participation rate of 66.8 per cent is high.

Between 1978 and 2024 Australia’s average unemployment rate has averaged just over 6.5 per cent, with record highs of 11.2 per cent in December 1992 and lows of 3.4 per cent in October 2022.

The low unemployment rate and high participation rate means the employment market is currently tight, fierce and competitive – which doesn’t necessarily bode well for a truck driving industry struggling with mass driver shortages in its attempts to attract more people to the profession.

A myriad of solutions have been conceived and implemented in a bid to make the road transport sector a more attractive proposition for young job seekers, however with Australia’s freight demand only increasing and its truck driving population only getting older, things could be set to reach a critical mass over the next decade.

Although the unemployment rate is at a, historically, very low marker, that four per cent of Australians out of work offers another well of potential drivers the industry can draw on – and it is already proving an effective recruiting pool.

Australia's current truck driver shortage currently stands at roughly 26,000 roles. Image: Taras Vyshnya/stock.adobe.com
Australia’s current truck driver shortage currently stands at roughly 26,000 roles. Image: Taras Vyshnya/stock.adobe.com

Workskil Australia is a not-for-profit charity that returns unemployed Australians to work, with a particular focus on long-term unemployed people.

It specialises in unskilled and semi-skilled recruitment, and supported over 60,000 people on their path to employment in the 2022-23 financial year.

In its Workskil Australia Q4 Work Watch report, Workskil identified truck driving as one of its most common roles filled across the quarter, and transport and logistics as one of the top hiring industries over the same period.

Overall, truck driving ranked seventh for new hires behind a variety of unskilled roles, including building labourers, sales assistants and call centre operators, with the final quarter of 2024 seeing a 30.1 per cent rise in demand for the role.

In an overall competitive labour market, the reintroduction of long-term unemployed people to the workforce through transport and logistics seems to be an area in which road transport is making significant headway.

Workskil Australia CEO Nicole Dwyer says the positive long-term employment outcomes in truck driving is what has led it to being identified it as an attractive and engaging industry for people it works with.

“Someone might get, for example, a labour hire job and then in a couple of months be back out of work again,” Dwyer tells ATN. “Conversely, we see good, long-term outcomes in the truck driving industry.

“We promote it as a really good industry to get into, because we’re seeing that long-term security in the role versus areas like construction, manufacturing or traffic management.

“It is an industry where there’s a shortage too, so we find employers are more flexible and willing to work with the individuals to try and make it work for both parties.

“We deal with all sizes of employers across a variety of industries that are looking for truck drivers, and whatever industry they’re in there is a lot of truck driving work.”

One major difference between general labouring and truck driving is not everyone can hop behind the wheel of a truck tomorrow. The stringent licensing restrictions within the industry means there needs to be an added time investment for someone to gain their qualifications and experience in the industry.

Workskil’s self-professed mission is to help people build better lives and achieve economic and social independence. Dwyer says the strong potential long-term outcomes in training and finding employment within the road transport sector has led the organisation to help people pursue their licences or refresh already held skills.

“We can fund all that,” she says. “We help people get their MC or HR licences, whatever they might need to go into the industry.

“In things like construction we’ll also pay for all their tickets like water carting.

“What we do know is if you’re new to the industry a lot of employers can be wary of picking you up if you haven’t had experience as a driver, so we help try and coordinate work experience to get people extra miles and make them more attractive to prospective employers.”

“We also deal with a lot of people who may have been a driver a while ago but may have lost their licence or had something happen to them, and we help them get back into it.

“A lot of people we work with love driving trucks and see it as an aspirational industry. We get great outcomes and people stick in it.

“A lot of people who are seeking to get into the industry also tend to have blue-collar backgrounds, so there is already an awareness of generic work health and safety and safe work practices, it’s just a slightly different environment.”

While tapping into the talented labour force that exists within the long-term unemployed demographic is certainly beneficial to the road transport sector, it’s also beneficial for the individual to have a steady stream of income to relieve financial pressures amidst the current cost-of-living crisis.

Disengagement from study and work has been found to lay the foundation for ongoing negative social and economic consequences for people, while prolonged periods of unemployment have been found to have serious implications on and individual’s mental health and wellbeing.

Holding a job represents far more than just going to work every day. It helps people break cycles of poverty and dramatically improves the health of those being pulled out of long-term unemployment.

13.7 per cent of the men and 10.7 per cent of the women who Workskil helped find employment in the September quarter identified as having experienced homelessness

It has also been found only 26 per cent of individuals experiencing homelessness were able to maintain employment for more than 26 weeks.

Conversely, Workskil found 40 per cent of truck driving hires stayed in their job for more than 26 weeks, which has cemented its position as a stable, long-term employment prospect.

Truck driving is one of Workskil Australia's top jobs for positive long-term employment outcomes.
Truck driving is one of Workskil Australia’s top jobs for positive long-term employment outcomes. Image: serge/stock.adobe.com

“Having a job is so important,” Dwyer says. “Work is more than a pay cheque. Of course, the pay cheque is really important, but holding a job is so important to a person’s perceived value and purpose.

“Being unemployed is really challenging, even outside of the financial aspect of it. It puts a lot of stress on people and it’s very easy to get depressed when you’re unemployed.

“Work is a very healthy thing as well as relieving some of that financial pressure people would have if they’re on unemployment benefits.”

Given the increase in demand for road transport services heading into the holiday period, it could be expected that the demand for truck drivers through Workskil’s programs could somewhat cool off in the coming months.

Dwyer, however, says the Q4 increase is in-keeping with wider trends in the employment market, and she expects the demand for the role to continue well into 2025.

“At that time of year the demand does jump up,” she says. “But we haven’t seen a jump like that before.

“I don’t know if that’s related to the ageing existing truck driving workforce, but for the December quarter it has already from September.

“Demand for delivery drivers, retail workers and forklift drivers are the main increases over that period to accommodate for the demands over Christmas, and driving would be some of that.

“We’ve been doing this for some time, but we haven’t seen it like this before.”

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