FTA:"...LAKE MILTON, Ohio - Bob Blocksom, an 87-year-old former insurance salesman, needs a job. He hasn’t saved enough money for his retirement. And trucking companies, desperate for workers, are willing to give him one.

Age didn’t matter, they said. If Blocksom could get his “CDL” - commercial driver’s license - they would hire him for a $50,000 job. One even offered to pay his tuition for driver training school, but there was a catch: Blocksom had to commit to driving an 18-wheel truck all over America for a year.

Trucking companies are doing what economists have said firms need to do to attract and retain workers: They’re hiking pay significantly, offering bonuses and even recruiting people they previously wouldn’t have considered..."

"...But it’s not working. The industry reports a growing labor shortage - 63,000 open positions this year, a number expected to more than double in coming years - that could have wide-ranging impacts on the American economy.

Nearly every item sold in America touches a truck [-this used to be a railroad mantra(?)] at some point, which explains why the challenges facing the industry, including trucking companies rapidly raising prices as they raise wages, have special power to affect the entire economy. Already, delivery delays are common, and businesses such as Amazon, General Mills and Tyson Foods are raising prices as they pass higher transportation costs along to consumers. A Walmart executive called rising transportation costs the company’s primary “head wind” on a recent call with investors..."

"...As it has trouble recruiting new workers, the industry is also struggling to hold on to drivers. Turnover in the trucking industry has skyrocketed to 94 percent, according to the American Trucking Associations, meaning most drivers at the major trucking companies don’t spend more than a year in their jobs..." 
 
There was also unrelated news that seems to fall into the picture surrounding this story: There is an apparent movement within Trucking and related industries to drop to 18 YEARS OLD, THE AGE AT WHICH ONE CAN QUALIFY FOR A  CDL LISCENSE.     And a note that NY Senator Schumer is going to push for the decriminalization of marijuana.
 
              Then, there is the linked aaticle by greyhounds of the problems, and issues of railroads trying to find and recruit employees:
@  http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-union-pacific-railroad-jobs-hiring-incentives-xxxx-20180619-story.html
snd a link from that chicago Tribune article:FTA:  "...Union Pacific is dangling $10,000 hiring bonuses for Chicago-area train conductors and engineers, and $15,000 for diesel technicians, while BNSF Railway has advertised a $20,000 incentive for a diesel technician job in the area. Norfolk Southern Railway also has ambitious hiring plans, though it is not offering hiring incentives..."
 
  It[shortages of manual labor jobs] seems to be a result of the 'push' over the last couple of decades, that High School grads 'needed to go out, and get a College degree'(?)  While the technical professions were not as important to the economy, and schools dropped those 'Class' working courses; in favor of those computer=based courses?   My 2 Cents