Mack VP: Will construction labor shortage harm growth?
LOUISVILLE, Ky.-- With truck order intake expected to hit near-record levels in 2018, Mack's senior vice-president for North American sales, Jonathan Randall, is worried about who will drive all the trucks the company is building. Speaking on the opening day of the 2018 Mid-America Trucking Show, Randall said the construction sector is seeing record spending, lots of job growth, and correspondingly strong order intake from the sector, but he says there are a couple of potentially dampening factors on the horizon. "There's a shortage of labor in that sector today, or more specifically, a shortage of construction workers," he said. "Who is going to drive all the trucks that we're selling?" Randall says U.S. GDP is expected to grow by 2.8% this year, and the strong economy is reflected in the strong order intake the industry is seeing this year. To says the economy is robust would probably be an understatement based on what Mack is seeing in truck orders
