Recovered consumption drowns hauliers in record worker shortage: trucks are empty at companies

Record of demand for workers

Povilas Drižas, head of the International Transport and Logistics Alliance, spoke on the Delfi Tema program that the current situation of employees in the logistics sector is very worrying.

“We also see signs of other European countries. The UK is the most likely to speak of staff shortages, as are Ireland, Germany, Poland and France.

Contributing to all the cataclysms, pandemics and shortages of raw materials in the world today is the problem that carriers, especially in land transport, cannot complete and complete all required transport operations simply due to lack of human resources. and human resources. they are not a secret. The sector is largely made up of third-country nationals. “Our domestic market does not meet the existing need for workers,” he said.

Data from the Employment Service (OCT) show that at the beginning of September there were 9.2 thousand people in the labor market. long-distance driver openings, and only 67 people signed up for the job.

“That number has now reached its peak, it is the highest, but we also have information from the OCTs that companies have not always registered vacancies, because in the past there was no such legal regulation. It happened along with the allocation of quotas, “he said, adding that consumption is currently recovering and that demand exceeds supply.

“There is cargo in the transportation business, but there is no one to transport it,” he said, explaining that there are companies in the alliance whose trucks are simply out of work, although they could work with the right number of employees.

According to the alliance representative, increasing quotas for third-country nationals could help solve the problem, but this issue has been debated for some time. This year, the quotas to facilitate the employment of foreigners from third countries in the logistics sector were exhausted in the first months of 2021.

“The government assigned 11.6 thousand. The quota of workers is three times less than what we need. <...> And it takes us much longer to hire people without fees, ”said P. Drižas, saying that today it takes between 13 and 14 weeks, and the employed person often does not even leave and go to work in other countries.

Ask for better working conditions

Martynas Šiurkus, advisor to the Minister of Social Security and Labor, explained that it should be understood that quotas were adopted for workers from third countries in order to facilitate the employment of these people.

He named it since May, when 11.6 thousand. Once the quota for this sector expired, the transportation companies contributed an additional 13.2 thousand. workers.

“But the interesting thing is that in December of last year a total of 74.8 thousand people worked in the sector. long-distance drivers, and today we have 77, 2 thousand.

There are 2.4 thousand. more than last year, but 24 thousand more employees have arrived. people. It is a question of where are those 22 thousand. employees we don’t see in Sodra.

This can be a problem in the sector itself, if there is a big change and the people who come here to work work for a few months and leave, ”he said, assuring that there should probably be talk of improving the working conditions of workers. The fact that quotas have expired does not prevent the transport sector from continuing to employ workers from third countries.

“So the process is a bit longer, but, understand, they are people who come from third countries. There are important aspects of migration, we cannot say that you are looking for everything you want.

There is a certain administrative procedure, registration, people must have social guarantees, “he said.

In the program, M. Šiurkus assured that so far, it has not yet been decided what the quotas will be in 2022.

“For now, we are looking at the data and looking at the actual numbers for a month or two,” he said.

There is a discussion

In response to the Minister’s Advisor, the Alliance representative P. Drižas emphasized that the turnover of employees in the Lithuanian transport sector is not exceptional.

He explained that the study showed that the highest turnover of workers in our country occurs in the IT and commerce and industry sectors, and only later, in transportation.

“And that means that no matter what the salaries are, because IT salaries are so much higher, a change is taking place. It is normal and not exceptional.

It is also possible that since most of the employees come from third countries and return to their home countries after 2-3 months and stay there for a month or two, Sodra does not see those people just because they are not registered there. “said P. Drižas.

As stated, better working conditions are currently being discussed with the workers’ representatives.

“We are discussing and trying to understand from a commercial point of view what still needs to be improved and changed.

But what the unions would like to change in terms of their working conditions, we have not fully heard, ”he said.

According to him, the complaints are mainly related to money and, as examples from other countries have shown, they do not solve the problem of staff shortages.

Drižas assured that it is very important that companies know the expected quota for next year, since the plans for next year will depend on it.

“We need to make sure there are no bottlenecks in the logistics chain,” he said.