Source: National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, Silver Spring, Md.
The 2019 NRMCA Mixer Driver Recruitment and Retention Survey shows the estimated industry driver pool increasing for the first time in two years, from 75,000 in 2016-2017 to 77,000 last year. Among survey respondents, 95 percent report driver vacancies—equating to nearly 10,000 unfilled driver positions through the end of 2018—versus 27 percent the prior year, while 60 percent turned away business due to lack of drivers available for material deliveries.
Since 2014, NRMCA estimates that the industry hired upward of 115,500 mixer drivers; approximately 102,400 were left in a five-year average mixer driver pool of 74,400. In the Mixer Driver Recruitment and Retention Survey’s five-year history, respondents have overwhelmingly noted their biggest hiring challenge is finding candidates with ready mixed concrete delivery experience. Facing such a shortage, 43 percent of respondents surveyed this year report hiring 18-21 year old drivers, 51 percent enlisting newly licensed commercial drivers. New CDL drivers accounted for approximately 8 percent of new mixer driver hires in 2018. Among survey respondents, 56 percent report rehiring former employees, equating to 9 percent of the new-hire mixer driver pool.
Copies of the complete Mixer Driver Recruitment and Retention Survey are available to NRMCA members free of charge. Additional information on the survey and ongoing Workforce Development Committee initiatives can be obtained from Vice President, Education Eileen Dickson, 240/485-1164, [email protected].