Christina Estes/KJZZ

Trucks on Interstate 9 in Arizona.

Before COVID-19 slowed everything down, the nation was facing a shortage of truck drivers. But the pandemic has only aggravated that problem.

Before the pandemic, it was estimated the nation was short 60,000 drivers. Now, that number has grown to 80,000 . 

That’s according to Arizona Trucking Association President and CEO Tony Bradley. 

He says the current workforce is aging. 

“Prior to the pandemic, our average age of our drivers was north of 55 years old. We’ve got a lot of men and women who have quite frankly reached retirement age, and during the pandemic when there was a slow down, they decided to hang it up," Bradley said. 

Bradley added that with the holidays coming, there are only more shortages in store. 

He says that’s due to the ongoing congestion in the supply chains.