Almost everything we use every day comes by #truck. But: In Germany, there is a shortage of 70,000 truck drivers and there is no new recruits coming. But what is it like to be constantly on the road for the job? Margarethe rides with truck driver Carsten Schmidt. He has been in the profession for 40 years. You can see what his daily work on the motorway is like in the #rbb24 explainer. According to the German Transport Association, night and shift work, long working hours and deadline pressure are particularly stressful for drivers. But bad weather, traffic jams, difficult parking and conflicts with other road users are also stressful. Another major sticking point is pay. According to the Federal Statistical Office, in 2023 the average wage for truck drivers was more than 600 euros below the national average for apprenticeships. Truck drivers received a gross salary of just under 3,100 euros. Depending on the forwarding company and the order, this also means night work. In Germany, there were recently around one million truck drivers on the road. It is striking that almost only men work as truck drivers. The proportion of women was recently just six percent. CORRECTION: At 6:16 we give the proportion of female truck drivers in Germany as 6%. According to the Federal Employment Agency, this was actually 7% for 2023. Timecodes: 00:00 Margarethe drives with truck driver Carsten Schmidt 01:11 Working conditions for truck drivers 02:46 This is a burden on drivers 03:28 Tips from Carsten Schmidt 04:12 This is what the sleeping area looks like 04:58 Communication with colleagues 06:07 There are so many truck drivers 06:41 On the road with Carsten Schmidt 07:18 Conclusion A selection of our sources: https://www.br.de/nachrichten/bayern/... https://www.balm.bund.de/SharedDocs/D... https://www.destatis.de/DE/Presse/Pre... https://www.kba.de/DE/Statistik/Kraft... Host: Margarethe Neubauer Author: Roberto Jurkschat Camera: Karolin Krämer Graphics: Maria Rial Editing: Urte Alfs Editors: Thomas Blecha, Jonas Bürgener, Anna Graefe, Jana Herrmann, Dave Rossel