Union Pacific to Hire Nearly 60,000 Workers by 2010

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Union Pacific Railroad expects to hire nearly 60,000 workers over the next 12 years to replace retiring workers and respond to increased business at the nation's largest railroad, according to a published report.

The hiring push — the Omaha-based railroad's biggest since the 1970s — will come after Union Pacific estimates it will have hired about 6,500 people this year alone, the Omaha World-Herald reported Sunday.

One of the railroads' big needs is for train crews — the locomotive engineers and conductors who operate the trains. Few blue-collar jobs pay better. At Union Pacific, engineers average $68,400 a year; conductors, $54,000. Crew members who want to work lots of trips can earn $100,000 or more.

The railroad jobs do include odd and unpredictable hours with lengthy trips away from home. But the pay and long-term stability make the jobs attractive to many workers.

The jump in hires is due partly to a need to untangle severe traffic congestion. But even without the traffic problems, the railroad would have been hiring aggressively, said Kevin Naylor, assistant vice president of human resources planning for the railroad.

The age of the railroad's work force makes it certain that the company will need to hire thousands of workers annually over the next 10 to 15 years. While the age trend is clear, it will take continued growth for the railroad to meet its current projections of 5,000 new hires a year through 2010, Mr. Naylor said. If the expected business growth is not there, the railroad will not be offering as many jobs.

246