Steve Gold, the academy’s president and chief executive, has said his school is the “largest driver training school in the U.S.”
The company oversees 152 schools in 44 states and will graduate about 30,000 students this year, Gold told the Transport Topics website. (Messages seeking comment were left for Gold.)
The Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce is scheduled to cut the ribbon at the company’s new local instruction space at 5260 N. Dixie Drive in coming days.
More than 8 million people are involved in the trucking industry, Kevin Burch, vice president of sales and government affairs for Harrison Twp.’s MTS Trucking, recently told a Destination Dayton gathering.
“That may surprise a lot of you,” Burch said. “You may say, ‘Well, there can’t be that many drivers.’ Well, there are 3.2 million drivers.”
The balance of those in the trucking industry are employed in original equipment manufacturing for trucks, trailers, tires and parts, working in truck stops, working in safety and other areas, he said.
Burch said they are among the “professional men and women who make America so great.”
“The trucking industry represents 5% of the gross national product,” he said.
The 160 Driving Academy also opened training centers in Olive Branch, Miss., and Lenexa, Kan. this year.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median pay for truck drivers last year was $57,440 per year or $27.62 an hour.
Driven by an aging workforce and growth in e-commerce, the national jobs outlook called for 5% growth each year, about average, with more than 100,000 jobs being added by 2033, according to the bureau.
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