Logistics UK is warning against complacency that “the employment issues are over for the industry” despite the latest data from the Labour Force Survey (February 2025) showing the number of HGV drivers in employment has risen in the last quarter of 2024.
The survey reveals that 36,000 more HGV drivers were employed in the last quarter of 2024 compared with the same period in 2023, demonstrating an increase in activity across the economy: 30,000 of the new drivers employed were from the UK. But while the news indicates an improvement in the logistics market, Bethany Windsor, Head of Skills Policy at Logistics UK indicates the issues facing employers in the industry have not yet been resolved.
She said: “Today’s figures are encouraging news for our sector, indicating as they do an uptick in employment prospects for drivers and other logistics workers. But perennial challenges for our sector, like an ageing workforce and limited new entrants to the profession, persist. As a profession, we still need to do more to attract the next generation of talent, while retaining those who have already chosen to join the logistics workforce.”
The business group notes that almost half (48.7%) of HGV drivers currently employed in the UK are aged 50 or older, posing real risks of future shortages as retirements increase. And while salaries advertised for drivers rose almost 4% in the final quarter of 2024 compared to the previous year, vacancies rose by more than 33% and the number of HGV tests taken in the year to November 2024 dropped by more than 20% year on year, “meaning that businesses must do more to appeal to future generations of drivers.”
Bethany continued: “Skills shortages have blighted our sector for many years, but the encouraging news is that attitudes are starting to change. The work conducted by the Generation Logistics campaign is starting to change the perceptions of our sector for the better among 13-24 year olds.
“In its first two years, Generation Logistics’ focused campaign has improved the way young people think about careers in logistics by 212% and raised awareness of our profession as a whole by 37%. The campaign’s dedicated website www.generationlogistics.org has recorded more than 1.37 million hits, while its social media messages have been interacted with over 6.9 million times.”
She added: “These are obviously impressive numbers for a campaign only two years into its life but we need to remember that, until two years ago, negligible numbers of people outside logistics had any idea what the sector is all about. Behavioural change takes time and focus, and it is up to all of us to keep the Generation Logistics message growing, despite the threat of future economic pressures, to ensure that our sector is able to draw on the skilled workforce it needs in future years.”
