Twenty-nine-year-old single mom Nicole Strickland has spent a decade supporting herself and her young son on her wages as a truck driver. But as one of just 5.1 percent of female drivers nationwide, she doesn’t have it easy.Strickland recalled the time a manager receiving a shipment offered to take her to dinner and let her use his shower. “You must get so lonely in that truck,” Strickland said the man told her. After she declined, he’d make her wait and unload her trailer last.While a 2016 White House report estimated that automized trucks could replace nearly 1.7 million truck driving jobs, for now, the industry is still growing. In fact, there’s a shortage of workers, especially women, according to the American Trucking Association.VICE News followed Strickland during her night shift on the open road in New York.
In a new ongoing series “American Jobs,” VICE News profiles Americans working in jobs today that reflect the landscape of our current economy. This segment originally aired July 26, 2017, on VICE News Tonight on HBO.