Have a quick web search, as I did last time this was mentioned (and form your own opinion), I searched for something like "driver shortage France 2021" and found at least one article that mentioned drivers have been leaving the profession for many years.
David
Well basically yes. Driver shortage here as well, made worse by COVID but was preexisting. COVID only exacerbated the issue, made it more visible, more problematic.
A month ago I was in need of an excavator to dig the trenches in my backyard to build my garage. 60m2, was not going to do it by hand...
There is a guy in my village just down my street who runs a construction business, so went to see him. Spoke over an hour with him. Said that the profession nationwide lacks about 20,000 lorry/truck drivers. It's just a shit job nobody wants to do any more that's all.
Same with other crap jobs like working in restaurants or changing diapers and house cleaning at elderly's homes, or hotel room cleaning. They are all in shortage from what TV says.
Same with me really. 10 years doing quality control/inspection in Aircraft airframes, it's not as rosy as people think, health declined. Aviation sucks big time unless you are a white collar behind a computer all day. Salary not that great working for a small sub-contractor, never a salary increase in 10 years, zero benefit no nothing... so when they fired me 4 months ago due to COVID, I said fuck it I am not going back doing that same shit job for what ever else company, fuck planes (I prefer Helicopters anyway !
) ! So now I just stay at home working on my house and fixing scopes and whatnot to make a buck or two on the side, living (even more) poorly out of unemployment benefits, I don't care. It's not about money anymore, it's about quality of life and principles. I will take my pretty time to work on my house, get back into shape, and when I decide it, in 3 months, or 6... I will start searching for a new job, and it won't be aviation, and the next employer will get nothing out of me because I already know I will never get anything out of him, whoever he is.
It's sad but it appears that's how employers want to play it here, so I have to adjust accordingly. I can't change the way they think and operate, but at least I can minimize the damage to my mental and physical health. Do the minimum, because boss will also do the minimum he can get away with.
What a sad world we live in
So yeah, we lack drivers here too indeed, it's not BREXIT's fault !