New York State Looking For A Few Good Snow Plow Drivers

If there is one thing that we do well in New York, it's dealing with the weather.

Now, while we don't want to think about all that white stuff that falls from the sky, after two record-breaking snowstorms that dumped several feet on Buffalo, we New Yorkers have to make sure we take handling weather seriously.

For as seriously as we take dealing with inclement weather, one thing that many people have noticed and complained about from the last few storms that hit Western New York is it took a while for the various government agencies to clear snow from the roads.

The New York State Department of Transportation has been advertising lately about several open positions that are available all across the Empire State. A review of the NYSDOT Employment Website shows there are several hundred available jobs all over the state, with several of them in Western New York alone.

With all of these open positions, and the performance of plowing from last year's mega-storms, I am among many people all over Western New York wondering if there is a shortage of plow drivers in New York.

Does New York Have A Plow Driver Shortage?

Officials from the NYSDOT have stated there isn't a shortage of drivers; they are just filling a series of open positions.

However, with so many vacancies in so many different areas of this state agency, we wonder how there cannot be a shortage of drivers and mechanics.

Plus, it was less than a year ago when Buffalo and Western New York were buried under several feet of snow, and we quickly learned that the Empire State was unprepared to deal with it.

Unemployment Is Increasing, But Still Near Record Lows

The most recent data available from the New York State Department of Labor show that the statewide unemployment rate has been increasing steadily over the last year, and while rates are still near record lows, it's in an upward trend.

Such a low unemployment rate may be part of the reason why there are so many open jobs at the DOT.