Sikhs finding the American dream as truck drivers

SCREEN CAPTURE / CBS NEWS

Mintu Pandher owns . nine big-rig trucks and a truck stop in Laramie, Wyoming.

THESE DAYS, instead of a baseball cap, the drivers of those big-rig trucks on America's highways, could just as well be wearing a turban.

More than 30,000 Sikhs have become truckers in the last two years. The Economist reports that the political group Sikhs PAC estimates there are 150,000 Sikhs in the trucking industry and that nearly 90 percent of those people work as drivers,

Sikh Americans, most of them immigrants from India, are filling in a huge gap in the trucking industry. Even with unemployment at a nearly 49-year low, there is a record-high shortage of truck drivers.  

"For Sikhs, they want to keep their articles of faith, turban, unshaven hair, beard, moustache -- it's a safety hazard for a lot of jobs that require it. So in trucking they can keep everything, and still make a decent living," said truck driver Mintu Pandher told CBS News.

This year, the turnover rate for truck drivers is 96 percent. More than 50,000 drivers are needed to meet the demand, and the shortage is forcing companies like Amazon, General Mills, Tyson Foods and others to hike up their prices to consumers, according to the CBS report.

Pandher bought a used tractor-trailer 13 years ago. Now he owns nine rigs, plus a truck stop in Laramie, Wyoming. At his ruck stop, he's added a Sikh temple and his restaurant serves South Asian dishes.

The industry, eager to find enough drivers, have created recruiting videos that look like something straight from Bollywood production promising high pay, a glamorous future: fancy truck, nice car and a modern split-level suburban home.

What they're selling is the American dream.

The commercials may be a little catchy with the singing and dancing but the promises the videos offer are reality for many Sikhs, says Pandher.

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