by Krystyna Shchedrina March 20, 2026
The trucking industry may not be facing immediate driver shortages, but a weak and inconsistent pipeline of new drivers and technicians entering the workforce is emerging as a new concern.
This is according to Lindsey Trent, co-founder and president of the Next Generation in Trucking Association (NextGen), who spoke at the Best Fleets to Drive For conference in Charlotte, N.C., earlier this week. “There’s just a lack of focus on building a pipeline, a workforce for the industry,” she said.
In 2025, the American Transportation Research Institute said the average age of U.S. truck drivers was 47 years old, and retirements are accelerating rapidly and will continue to do so in the next decade. Meanwhile, the American Trucking Associations (ATA) is expecting a driver shortage of 160,000 by 2030.
Even among Best Fleets to Drive For participants, the driver pipeline appears to be aging. CarriersEdge CEO Jane Jazrawy said in her presentation that survey demographics in 2026 “stopped trending younger” after showing signs of improvement the previous years, when more under-30 drivers were completing questionnaires for carriers’ evaluations.
