Wisconsin’s pool of licensed commercial truck drivers is shrinking even as the state’s reliance on trucking to drive the economy has grown, a new study from the Wisconsin Policy Forum shows.
And federal officials project an increase nationally of 50% by 2050 for the amount of freight shipped by truck.
There have been several efforts to help boost the number of licensed CDL drivers, including a state grant program created in 2024 that helps cover the cost of training.
Meanwhile, the Wisconsin Policy Forum suggested autonomous vehicles may eventually be part of the solution, though the deployment of the technology is not moving rapidly enough to make up for the shortage in licensed drivers.
“This example, and other Wisconsin experiences, shows that in the future there may be less need for trained drivers behind the wheel,” authors wrote.