The shortage of drivers is currently one of the biggest problems facing the TSL sector—transport, freight forwarding and logistics. The job vacancy rate in the industry is 44% higher than the average for the Polish economy as a whole. The driver profession is ageing, while younger people are increasingly reluctant to build their future around it because of the personal costs involved. Companies may be able to attract them through new technologies and training opportunities, among other measures.
The Volvo 4Poland report, Trendbook: The Future of Heavy Transport in Poland 2026/2027, shows that the TSL sector operates within a dense and steadily expanding network of regulations. The Mobility Package has increased labour costs. Cost pressure is also being intensified by rising road tolls, the mandatory replacement of tachographs and the planned inclusion of transport in the ETS2 emissions trading system. Some 66% of Polish companies surveyed believe that the regulatory environment is holding back or limiting the sector’s development.
“Companies are planning recruitment cautiously, primarily because of the macroeconomic situation. This is the most important factor, and it also contributes to employees’ fears of losing their jobs. The global situation related to the armed conflict, which has a very strong impact on the transport sector, intensifies these concerns,” Adrian Wilisz, Chief Operating Officer at Omega Transport, told Newseria.
“Employment costs in the TSL sector have had a very strong impact on the industry since the introduction of the Mobility Package. Every change in the average wage creates a major jump in costs from the perspective of large companies.”
The report indicates that more than 426,000 truck-driver positions were unfilled across the European Union in 2024, and this number is expected to almost double by 2028.
“The shortage of drivers in the TSL market is enormous. It is caused mainly by the lack of young people entering the profession, as well as the insufficient availability of vocational education for professional drivers,” Wilisz says.
According to research conducted for the Volvo 4Poland report, 94% of transport companies said they had experienced staff shortages frequently during the past 12 months, including 34% that faced them often and 60% that experienced them very often—practically all the time. Only 6% encountered such difficulties occasionally.
Some business owners point out that the average age of drivers is already above 50. They also stress that traditional channels for recruiting new workers are becoming exhausted. Ukrainian drivers are less available today than before the war, while the recruitment of workers from Asia, Africa and Latin America is hindered by language, administrative and cultural barriers.
The staffing situation in heavy transport has long ceased to be a temporary recruitment problem. It is a long-term challenge shaped simultaneously by demographics, social changes and shifting expectations of work.
The report shows that younger people are particularly discouraged by the personal costs associated with the driver profession, including long periods away from home and uncomfortable working conditions. As a result, the sector is beginning to compete for employees on more than just pay. Compensation remains an important recruitment and retention factor, cited by 60% of respondents, but there is growing awareness that retaining drivers now requires a broader package: investment in working comfort, cited by 49%; flexible schedules, 43%; non-salary benefits, 26%; as well as training and professional development.
The latter factor is closely linked to the sector’s transformation. Heavy transport is investing strongly in advanced driver-assistance systems, telematics and adaptive cruise control.
“As the entire industry changes from a traditionally transport- and product-focused sector into a highly specialised and technological one, we will increasingly be looking for professionals with advanced skills. This starts with technicians, who will need an entirely different range of competencies related to new technologies and new knowledge in order to deliver products connected with electromobility and new propulsion systems to customers,” says Katarzyna Skorupka-Podziewska, People & Culture Director at Volvo Trucks Poland.
“We already employ such technicians, but we need more of them.”
One representative of a company surveyed for the Volvo 4Poland study estimates that driving itself now accounts for around 70% of a driver’s work. The remainder involves electronic documentation, operating digital tools, transmitting data and communicating with freight forwarders. Traditional mechanical knowledge is therefore increasingly being replaced by digital and organisational skills.
Trendbook experts argue that Poland’s existing driver-training model does not create an attractive, modern pathway into the profession. It also fails to keep pace with the technological transformation of the sector. Companies are therefore attempting to change the situation.
In Scandinavia and Germany, vocational schools work directly with manufacturers and transport companies. Students gain exposure to modern vehicles, driving simulators and digital fleet-management systems while they are still in education.
“We have implemented programmes aimed at attracting future employees starting at the school level. We work with selected partner schools, where we introduce our programmes and allow students to learn about new technologies during their education,” Skorupka-Podziewska says.
“We are also changing the image of the traditional mechanic, which is encouraging more young people to enter the mechanical sector because it is becoming increasingly connected with new technologies. The second level is the development of our existing employees. We place strong emphasis not only on recruitment, but also on retaining our workforce by providing new knowledge and technology-based training.”
According to Volvo Trucks representatives, such measures are a response to the outdated image of driver and automotive-mechanic occupations in Poland, despite the enormous technological leap experienced by the industry. Young people are less likely to view heavy transport as a developing, interesting industry or as a path to a stable career.
Among the factors most frequently identified in the survey as likely to attract young people to heavy-transport driving are competitive pay, modern equipment, contact with technology, a safe entry into the profession, stable employment, more predictable work organisation and reducing the burden of long periods away from home.
“Even if a company has outstanding products and technology, it cannot compete in this market without engaged employees. We strongly believe in that. From the moment an employee joins our company, we want to provide an authentic experience. We break down silos, introduce new technologies, and during onboarding employees already test solutions using virtual reality,” says the People & Culture Director at Volvo Trucks Poland.
The most significant workforce challenges and the future of Poland’s TSL sector were discussed during the 4Poland transport solutions fair, held on 11 June 2026 at the Jastrząb Racing Track near Radom.
