When Aaron Gonzales started driving a truck there weren’t many over-the-road Hispanic drivers like himself. “You saw Hispanics a lot in Texas and California,” he says, “but not anywhere else.”
Now an owner-operator with three trucks, Gonzales’ expansion reflects a major trend in trucking. Hispanics, blacks, women and other minority groups are making serious inroads into the business of driving. That wasn’t true in the 1970s when more than eight out of 10 drivers were white men. Today, white men still make up 72 percent of the nation’s 3.1 million truckers according to government figures, but in 2001, 14 percent were black, 12.6 percent were Hispanic and 5.3 percent were women.
At some fleets those percentages are much higher. Mike Norder, a spokesman for Schneider National, says the percentage of women in Schneider’s fleet is significantly higher than the national average.
“As a percentage of the fleet, women drivers have increased steadily over the last five or six years,” Norder says. “We hope and expect that trend continue.”
Minorities in general are increasing in most career fields. Projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics suggest that by 2010, the number of women entering the work force will outpace men by a 5 to 3 margin. By that time, says the BLS, the Hispanic work force will grow by 36 percent; African Americans by 21 percent; and other ethnic minorities by 44 percent. The white work force will grow at only a 9-percent rate.
In trucking, several factors are fueling the increase in minorities. First, say fleet recruiters, there are fewer barriers to entering the industry than other professions. Educational requirements are minimal, and drivers can be trained quickly. Salaries also are competitive with other careers that require college and advanced degrees.
Hispanic driver German Hidrogo left a warehouse job and became a team driver to earn more money for his family. “You just have to work hard and drive,” he says. The driving job has helped him buy a house for his wife and two children.
