POSTED: Friday, March 23, 2012 - 6:04pm
UPDATED: Friday, March 23, 2012 - 6:19pm
BATON ROUGE, LA (NBC33) — In this uncertain economy there's been an increase in the number of people who want to become truck drivers. And most commercial drivers are getting up in age, which means there's a big demand for new drivers.
There's such a demand that commercial carriers are paying for drivers to go to school and guaranteeing them jobs once they graduate.
"It's great in this economy to have the job that I do,” Michael Palmer, truck driver, said. “I'm a lease operator taking the first steps to buying my own truck and without this school I would not be able to be where I am today."
Truckers gathered today, Friday, March 23, at Diesel Driving Academy where some of the nation's largest trucking companies were meeting, hoping to pre-hire over a hundred new drivers.
Today Diesel Driving Academy hosted a grand opening at their new facility in Baton Rouge.