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00:00First start to sound about the improvements that we've seen and really hear where the opportunity lies for women in the trucking industry. Well the industry has changed a great deal in the past number of years and it's not your old grandpa's job anymore. The trucking industry has changed its equipment changed its routing changed its home time and changed the trucks themselves so that women are more comfortable and more ergonomically seated in the cab of the truck. So it's really changed. But the perception of the industry has not changed. And that's one of our biggest image issues. So how are you tackling that. Is this a question of marketing. Is this a question of word of mouth. What are the best ways to ensure that people realize this is a more inclusive and more comfortable way to work. Well we have an image team of both one in the unit and the United States image team and a Canadian in his team and they do right along with their elected officials and regulators and legislators and media. And so they tell our story. We also do a lot of recognition programs. We have a member of the month. We have influential woman in trucking. And we are breaking out our new driver ambassador tractor trailer that will be driven by a female driver around the country to talk about careers in transportation. And it will be a hands on learning environment. I mean complete with a simulator in it. Talk about the companies themselves and how receptive they've been to this. Obviously there's a sense of desperation and just needing more workers. But even before the current crisis that we're in supply chain crisis there had been a lot of talk here about trying to recruit a more diverse workforce in the trucking industry. Well many years ago carriers used to say that they just hired the best person and they weren't really focused on gender diversity ethnic diversity age diversity. But now they're seeing the value that women bring to the industry. Most importantly female commercial drivers are safer drivers. Male commercial drivers are 20 percent more likely to be involved in a crash in every statistically significant area. And that includes curves at night intersections. So right off the bat women are safer drivers because women are more risk averse. Women are often better with the customers better with paperwork better with handling equipment and easier to train because they want to learn and they know that they need to prove themselves in order to get the confidence from their company and their colleagues. Really interesting when we talk about the labor shortage what an opportunity it can present to get more women in the industry. But I'm curious how you're thinking about what are and where are the competitors. Is that Uber. Is it bus drivers. Are women coming to you. And there are other places where they feel like they have better safety better hours. You would be surprised at where drivers come from. We have nurses we have attorneys we have CEOs from companies who just want to get away from working in an office. We get a lot of women who come in from driving school buses. They want to earn a better living. Some of them have driven commercial buses like in transit or cities. But we get women from all areas. Eighty three percent of women who come into the trucking industry do so because of the urging of a family member or friend. So typically that's a husband or boyfriend. And the average female driver is about 50 years old. So that means she's raised her family. She can get out travel see the world. And guess what. The women make the same amount of money as men. Good bit of a quality that I'm interested in. You are saying that you know sometimes this is a lifestyle question. I've heard anecdotal evidence of people trying to hire sort of couples that drive. But what are the ways in which that you can dispel or is there a myth or is it all true that basically while or on the road for days and days is there a way that not all trucking is like that. Well that is the misconception because if you go to a large over the road carrier you are going to be gone for a while. But there's many jobs you can haul trash. You can deliver parts in a city. You could do intermodal pickup ships like we talked about supply chains. The people that go to the rail yards are home every day. Same thing for their shipping cargo ships. Their home much more often. So there are many jobs where you can still have a work life balance and a family and make a good living.

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Women in Trucking Association CEO on Trucking Industry

Head of the Women in Trucking Association, Ellen Voie discusses supply chain and labor issues in the trucking industry. She speaks with Taylor Riggs, Caroline Hyde, and Romaine Bostick on "Bloomberg Markets: The Close". (Source: Bloomberg)