Belarus Experiences Shortage Of Truckers

Has everyone gone to Poland and Lithuania?

A serious shortage of drivers in Lithuania and Poland generates a great demand for those wishing to work as a truck driver. And European companies willingly consider Belarusian citizens as candidates, writes thinktanks.by.

According to official statistics, the country is in full order with the employment of people in most specialties. If you open job search sites, you can see a huge number of unfilled vacancies.

The most surprising thing is that the greatest demand in the country now is for drivers. There are not enough employees in many of the country's fleets, transport companies are literally groaning from a lack of labor.

Statistics show that there is a shortage even of taxi drivers. There are not enough forwarding drivers, delivery couriers who deliver goods. But the greatest shortage is of truckers. And for a transit country, this becomes a huge problem.

According to the ATI.SU international road freight exchange, in 2021 the demand for international drivers has seriously increased, while there are few people who want to go to work as a truck driver.

The shortage of performers is becoming critical, the exchange reports. In particular, the number of applications for intercity transportation in 2021 increased by 47% compared to 2020. Inside Belarus, the growth is somewhat lower, but also serious - at the level of 20%. Export to Russia became the main one - the number of applications here increased by as much as 66%.

At the same time, there is a serious reduction in carriers.

ATI.SU statistics confirms the trend that there are fewer carriers. In Belarus, domestic transportation was particularly hard hit: the number of vehicles deployed on Belarusian routes decreased by 56%.

The problem is also relatively low salaries in Belarus, when compared with Europe.

On average, Belarusian companies offer a truck driver about 2.5 thousand rubles a month. However, this is if you work a lot and almost without days off.