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The Saskatchewan Trucking Association (STA) wants the provincial government to help young people enter the field.
STA wants the Government of Saskatchewan to remove financial barriers for students seeking a Class 1A licence, which is a commercial licence required to drive semi trucks.
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Executive Director Susan Ewart said the average cost of mandatory entry-level training to obtain the licence is around $14,000. However, due to the length of the course, it doesn’t qualify for student loan funding.
The STA says more than 50 per cent of truck drivers in the province are older than 45 years.
“I think it’s a huge concern and it has been for a number of years. The driver shortage has been ongoing. As the industry ages out, there are not enough new people that are coming through, and what we need to do is be able to sit down with government to talk about workforce development within the province and attracting that next generation of professional truck driver,” Ewart said.
“One of the things that continues to be the barrier to getting young people interested is: how are they going to finance this?”
A list of professions in the trucking industry.(Screenshot/Saskatchewan Trucking Association)
According to data provided by the STA, commercial truck drivers can make $52,000 to $95,000 a year, dispatchers can make $47,000 to $84,000, transport managers $58,000 to $112,000, and administrators can make $49,000 to $54,000.
The data also said dock workers make $17-$18 per hour.
The Government of Saskatchewan has previously announced an annual $1,000 tax rebate to partially cover the cost of Class 1 driver training over five years.
The program is expected to launch in September, but Ewart said it’s not enough to keep people working in the province.
“Most people today, I can imagine, probably don’t have $14,000 sitting around in the bank or in their jeans to be able to pay for this type of training,” she said.
Ewart said raising interest is also part of the solution to get more young people involved.
She said the STA works with the Regina District Industry Education Council to try to get young people to consider trucking as a career.
In an emailed statement, the Government of Saskatchewan said it was disappointed in the Government of Canada’s decision to cut labour market transfers to provinces.
“The Canada-Saskatchewan Job Grant was funded by the Labour Market Transfer Agreement with the federal government. Last fiscal year the Government of Saskatchewan backfilled the sudden cut in funding to ensure no layoffs in the job training sector occurred while we pushed for the cut to be reversed,” the statement read.
“The federal government unfortunately has not reversed the cuts to this funding and thus program changes were required. Neighbouring provinces have also wound down similar programs due to federal government cuts.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been amended to include a statement from the Government of Saskatchewan.
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