NPR ran an interesting feature on truck drivers from Punjab filling the void in American trucking industry.
The trucking industry is experiencing a major shortage of drivers. But in the last two years, one demographic has been gravitating towards the industry by the thousands: Indian-American Sikhs. It’s an attractive blue-collar job because it doesn’t interfere with articles of faith, like turbans or beards.
Listen to story on NPR https://www.marketplace.org/2019/03/07/world/indian-american-sikh-truckers/popout
Also check out “Sikh Truckers in America”
Gurinder Singh Khalsa of Indianapolis based Sikhs Political Action Committee (right) with Paramjit Singh Sidhu of Sidhu Transport, Greenwood, Indiana.
“As truckers, we do miss quite a bit on their (kids) growing up. And that hurts more than the hard work. But that’s the price you pay to be a trucker,” says Pandher, wistfully.
Pandher, who started as a truck driver, running an intrastate hazmat in 2003, today owns the Laramie, Wyoming, based Akal Travel Center, which has 9 trucks, 13 tanker trailers and 4 truck stops in Wyoming, Nebraska and New Mexico. Pandher is among the thousands of Sikhs in the American trucking industry.
Nearly 71% of the freight tonnage on land moves on trucks. The American trucking industry forms the lifeline of the U.S. economy. According to the 2012 Survey of Business Owners by the U.S. Census Bureau, there were nearly 600,000 trucking companies with $300 billion in sales. The American Trucking Association estimates that 3.5 million truckers move 10.55 billion tons of freight annually.
blog.garamchai.com 
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