Pilot initiative will recruit, train workers to be truck drivers
Last updated Friday, May 9, 2008 6:11 PM CDT in Business
By Jason Wiest
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK - A pilot initiative will pay for training displaced workers and other eligible Arkansans for jobs as truck drivers, Gov. Mike Beebe announced Friday.
"We have out-of-work Arkansans who need good jobs, and we have an industry with good jobs to fill," Beebe said.
The Trucking Workforce Pilot Initiative will use about $1 million in state funds to train as many as 300 Arkansans and place them with trucking companies, Beebe said.
"The need for truckers is there, but we don't have a pool of qualified people to draw from those jobs," Maverick USA CEO Steve Williams said.
Between 600 and 800 trucking jobs are available in Arkansas, according to a recent survey of trucking companies, said Lane Kidd, president of the Arkansas Trucking Association.
In the past, the cost of training has been a deterrent for potential employees, Kidd said. Trucking companies typically loan employees about $3,000 to cover the cost of training and then deduct it from their pay.
"This is a unique and progressive approach, and the governor and the administration sees that the state's return on the investment is that the truck driver starts to work, starts paying income taxes and they get their money back," Kidd said.
The Department of Workforce Services, the Governor's Dislocated Workers Task Force and the trucking industry are working together on the initiative.
Training will take place through programs at Arkansas State University-Newport and Mid-South Community College in West Memphis. Participants will be screened before training and after training must complete the WorkKeys Assessment to receive their Arkansas Career Readiness Certificate and be placed with employers.
The entire process will take between four and five weeks, officials said. The initiative will begin in late summer or early fall, officials said.
Entry-rate salaries for trucking jobs range from $35,000 to $50,000 per year, officials said.
"Ideally, if it works well, perhaps it's a program that we can go back to the Legislature and keep going," Kidd said.
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