Employment Trends Logistics

Trucking is the Most Common American Job in Each State

Trucking-is-the-Most-Common-American-Job-in-Each-State
Written by Miranda Pennington

If you were on the fence about enrolling in a Class A CDL class, wait no longer! Truck driver has just passed secretary to become the most common U.S. job, according to the latest Census Bureau data and Roadmaster.com!

According to NPR, the decline of secretary positions due to the rise of personal computers, the outsourcing of manufacturing, and the erosion of regional specialization are all contributing factors to this shift. Globalization and technology have made big changes to farmers and machine operators across the country.

In Washington, D.C. and neighboring Virginia and Maryland, job holder majority is held by government workers, federal contractors, and software developers, but elsewhere in the heartland, truck drivers are leading the way. Of course, the Census Bureau also groups all truck drivers and delivery people into the same category—other fields like teaching are split into subgroups that lessen their statistical impact.

Truck driving also has the benefit of always remaining a necessity—people will always need to get their products from point A to point B, and trucks pick up where planes, trains and boats leave off.

Despite the popularity of the gig in the rig, according to Roadmaster there’s still a shortage of qualified drivers, so if you’re considering a license, consider this the sign you’ve been waiting for and get to work to get behind the wheel!

About the author

Miranda Pennington

Miranda K. Pennington is a freelance writer and editor whose work has appeared on The Toast, The American Scholar, and the Ploughshares Writing Blog. She currently teaches creative nonfiction for Uptown Stories, a Morningside Heights nonprofit organization. She has an MFA from Columbia University, where she has also taught in the University Writing program and consulted in the Writing Center.