The White House’s new initiative to address the nation’s supply chain challenges involves increasing the number of veterans in the trucking sector.
Officials from the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Labor, and Transportation are set to promote various existing programs aimed at assisting service members transitioning out of the military to find careers in trucking. This initiative is anticipated to commence on Monday, with an official announcement from the White House detailing these programs.
This development follows recent meetings between administration officials and veterans organizations to highlight these resources and urge them to disseminate information among their members.
This effort comes as businesses across the country have been grappling with various supply chain disruptions. The ongoing coronavirus pandemic and a shortage of workers in essential roles at ports and other transit hubs have complicated the transportation of goods from warehouses to retail shelves.
White House officials have been advocating for an increase in the number of truck drivers in the U.S. as a sustainable solution, introducing multiple recent training programs to guide job seekers into the industry. In their December “Trucking Action Plan to Strengthen America’s Workforce,” they indicated that veterans possess skills and experiences that make them ideal candidates for helping to meet these challenges and cultivating the future trucking workforce.
The Department of Defense offers online credentialing opportunities for service members prior to their departure from the military, along with trucking-specific classes available through the SkillBridge program. Additionally, veterans can utilize various VA benefits, such as the GI Bill and the Veteran Rapid Retraining Assistance Program, to enter the workforce in this sector.
The Department of Labor has established a 90-day trucking program that fast-tracks aspiring drivers into employment, targeting veterans for these positions in the upcoming weeks. Furthermore, the Department of Transportation’s Commercial Motor Vehicle Operator Safety Grant Program provides training for service members, veterans, and military spouses in the safe operation of commercial vehicles. All these initiatives will soon be highlighted in department communications.
According to a fact sheet from the White House, outdated infrastructure, the COVID-19 pandemic, and a record level of goods moving through the economy have contributed to a backlog in supply chains, stressing the transportation sector and leading to a significant shortage of truck drivers. The programs mentioned aim to assist transitioning service members and veterans in securing fulfilling careers with competitive wages in the trucking industry. Currently, approximately 10 percent of professional truck drivers in the U.S. are veterans, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.
