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Russian version

Speech by Mr Janis Aboltins
Board Member MMG Transports, Executive Secretary, Council of Latvijas Auto, Latvia

The results of a survey carried out by Latvijas Auto show that 10% of all truck driver jobs are vacant. Further, according to executives, this figure may rise to 17% within a year.

The contributing factors are:

• retirement of senior drivers
• insufficient training of new staff
• road transportation companies’ growing vehicle fleets and increasing cargo transportation volumes

This shortage of drivers means that executives have to be more and more accommodating, which leads to growing salaries.

Drivers’ salaries in 2007
Over 1000 Ls
Less than 200 Ls

Respondents cited the following reasons as the main causes of the shortage:

• The job is difficult, requires a responsible approach and means long absences from home
• The need to queue for days on the Latvian-Russian border
• Deficiencies in the educational system:
  • there are no educational institutions, graduation from which would allow a young driver to be granted the appropriate qualification;
  • acquiring a driving license is experience and the procedure is complicated and protracted

Road transportation companies propose the following measures in order to resolve the shortage:

• Open secondary professional educational institutions for training drivers
• Simplify acquiring the appropriate qualifications
• Provide road transportation companies with the opportunity to provide practical training for drivers
• Provide training of drivers and completion of practical training at the state’s expense by means of partial compensation of companies’ expenditures.
• Increase the popularity of the profession of international truck drivers and improve its prestige
• Simplify the procedure for employing drivers from other countries in Latvia
• Train new drivers at the company’s expense with mandatory payback of training expenses via subsequent employment

See the Powerpoint presentation

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