Driving the Economy: The Essential and Undervalued Work of Truckers
Description
A career in trucking was once considered a pathway to the middle class. Yet the quality of jobs in the industry has steeply declined in recent decades. Long-haul truckers, who might spend days or weeks away from home, have seen their salaries fall by as much as half since the deregulation of the industry a half century ago, and annual turnover hovers near 100%. Short-haul truckers are frequently misclassified as independent contractors, stripping them of benefits and worker protections and burdening them with the costs of owning and operating a truck. And predatory leasing arrangements are pushed on truckers by the industry, saddling many with debt that they struggle to pay off. All of this is in spite of the fact that truckers work year-round, at all hours of the day, while exposed to hazards, to ensure that our economy keeps moving.
In recent years, a common narrative developed that there is a shortage of truck drivers. What is missing, however, is that this shortage is driven in large part by the industry’s turnover rates and the lack of good jobs that allow truckers to thrive. Today, there are nearly three times as many people with the necessary licensing and qualifications as there are trucking jobs. In addition, new developments in technology promise to upend the industry as companies embrace automation and increasingly deploy methods of surveillance.
As a key pillar of our economy and supply chain, and one of the largest occupations in the US, the job quality of workers in the trucking sector has far-reaching implications. Join the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program on March 19 to explore the challenges truckers face and ideas for improving the returns for the essential work they do.
Speakers
Desiree Wood (Opening Remarks)
Founder and President of REAL Women in Trucking, Inc.
Wood is the founder and president of REAL Women in Trucking, Inc. (RWIT) 501 (c)(6) advocacy organization formed by working women truck drivers focused on addressing gender-based violence and harassment in the commercial motor vehicle industry and Trucker’s Emergency Assistance Responders, Inc.501 (c)(3) a charity formed to help truck drivers with short term emergency assistance following carrier abandonment.
Desiree has 15 years of experience as a commercial motor vehicle driver and over 1 million safe miles. She provides insight to scholars, law firms, media outlets, and movie and television productions on trucking issues. She speaks to universities and at public sector forums to provide an authentic perspective on life on the road as a long-haul truck driver, providing support and leadership for legislative and public policy efforts. She has been recognized internationally for her work and expertise.
Desiree holds a bachelor of arts degree in business administration from the University of Maryland University College and credits from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, College of Business. Her work is featured in a feature length documentary called “Driver” that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in June 2024.
Robin Hutcheson
Hutcheson Advisory, Former Administrator of the the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
Hutcheson is a multi-sector transportation expert working at the center of cities, roadway safety, climate, supply chain and technological transformation. Through Hutcheson Advisory, LLC she advises public and private sector clients on complex transportation systems to identify and harness opportunities, and to decipher federal and local regulation. She was appointed by President Biden to serve in two key positions in the Administration. As the deputy assistant secretary for Safety Policy, she led the development of the National Roadway Safety Strategy and was a key contributor to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, including as the author of the first of its kind $5 billion Safe Streets for All grant program for local government.
As the Senate confirmed administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, she led a research and regulatory agency of over 1,200 people nationwide to improve roadway safety and support a stronger supply chain. Prior, she was the director of Public Works for Minneapolis, the director of Transportation for Salt Lake City, the president of the board of directors of the National Association of City Transportation Officials and a founding board member of the Open Mobility Foundation. Robin’s experience also includes a long history as a private sector consultant at the local, national and international scale. Robin leads with transparency and influential communication, and she is an entrepreneur at heart.
Rebecca King
Attorney, Getman, Sweeney & Dunn, PLL
King is an attorney with the law firm Getman, Sweeney & Dunn, PLLC, where she represents workers in wage-and-hour class and collective action lawsuits nationwide. She is committed to standing with working people and fighting for the wages and respect they are due. Rebecca has represented workers across multiple industries, including thousands of long-haul truck drivers who allege they were misclassified as independent contractors and are owed the minimum wage under federal and state law. Rebecca also represents long-haul truck drivers seeking unpaid compensation under the federal Truth in Leasing Act, 49 C.F.R. § 376.12(g).
Rebecca has been admitted to practice in the state of New York and the southern and eastern districts of New York, and she is a member of the National Employment Lawyers Association.
Michael Muñoz
Research Director, Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE)
Muñoz joined the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) in 2017 as a senior researcher on LAANE’s “Our People Our Port” campaign. Mike went on to become the director of the campaign before becoming LAANE’s research director in 2023.
Prior to LAANE, Mike was an organizer with the Teamsters and with the Warehouse Worker Resource Center at the Port of Los Angeles, and he served as coordinator of the National Staffing Workers Alliance, a coalition of worker centers dedicated to organizing temporary and staffing agency workers. He also spent 14 years working at the National Immigration Law Center. Born and raised in East Los Angeles, Mike attended East Los Angeles College before receiving his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from University of California, Santa Barbara in 1994.
Steve Viscelli
Associate Professor of Practice, University of Pennsylvania.
Author of The Big Rig: Trucking and the Decline of the American Dream
Viscelli is an economic sociologist who studies work, labor markets, and public policy. He is an associate professor of practice at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2016 he published “The Big Rig: Trucking and the Decline of the American Dream,” which explains how the deregulation of trucking and the rise of independent contracting turned trucking from one of the best blue-collar jobs in the US into one of the toughest.
He has worked on a wide range of research and policy initiatives at the State and Federal levels to improve training, pay and working conditions for truck drivers. In 2023 and 2024, he served on the United States Department of Transportation’s Truck Leasing Task Force. His current research focuses on the impact of self-driving trucks on truckers and the impact of e-commerce and artificial intelligence on package delivery drivers.
Moderator
Alana Semuels
Senior Economics Correspondent, TIME
Semuels is a senior economics correspondent at TIME magazine, where she writes about topics including work, housing, consumer spending, and the supply chain. She was previously a staff writer at The Atlantic and a correspondent in both New York and Los Angeles for the Los Angeles Times.
Opportunity in America
Opportunity in America, an event series hosted by the Economic Opportunities Program, considers the changing landscape of economic opportunity in the US and implications for individuals, families, and communities across the country. The series highlights the ways in which issues of race, gender, and place exacerbate our economic divides, and ideas and innovations with potential to address these challenges and broaden access to quality opportunity.
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