Applying the fundamental law of supply and demand to the truck driving industry points to a career that should experience consistent wage growth. The question truckers and those who consider earning their CDL need to know is whether the ongoing crisis and driver demand increases salaries.
According to reports from the American Trucking Associations (ATA), the demand for qualified CDL holders stood at approximately 50,000 in 2017. A year later, it swelled to 61,000, and by 2028 the U.S. could suffer an unprecedented trucker shortfall experts anticipate could exceed 160,000. Keep in mind that upwards of 70 percent of all materials, goods, and products are transported by truck. As the population grows, driver demand increases at least proportionally.
Data compiled by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) indicates that driver demand increases salaries at a relatively steady pace. In 2010, nearly 1.5 million heavy and tractor-trailer professionals were gainfully employed. The average hourly wages were $18.97, and the mean annual salary had ticked up to $39,450. It’s also essential to consider that truck drivers had jobs at a time when unemployment topped 10 percent and the country was embroiled in a recession crisis. A recent BLS supports the notions of consistent salary growth.
“The median annual wage for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers was $47,130 in May 2020. The median wage is the wage at which half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount, and half earned less,” BLS reports. “The lowest 10 percent earned less than $30,660, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $69,480.”
Again, we are examining numbers during a time of crisis that involved people sheltering in place and wide-reaching businesses shuttering during the height of the pandemic. It appears that no matter what ails the economy, driver demand increases continue, as do improved wages and salaries.
Coming out of the pandemic and into a full-blown recession may actually positively impact CDL holders. Corporations with tractor-trailer fleets are offering more than competitive salaries. Entry-level drivers are being recruited with salaries of upwards of $57,000. Seasoned drivers with at least five years on the road are seeing offers of $65,000, and veteran truckers can secure salaries that average more than $90,000 from big-box retailers. Other reports highlight the fierce competition among major food chains that are reportedly throwing money at drivers rather than see their supply chains disrupted.
“I get calls from desperate Fortune 500 companies every day that need to move perishable food. It’s most dire in the food industry right now,” Rich Jennings of Regional Supplemental Services reportedly said. “I’ve never seen drivers get paid what they are paid today. They are getting well into the six figures, and they can easily make $3,000 a week.”
Sources: businessinsider.com, bulktransporter.com
LOL of course it’ll affect “salaries”. Rates will go up and carriers will do their best to pay less.
Spot rates are up 2.5X over one year ago, no doubt fleet management salaries have kept pace with that but what about the drivers?
OTR drivers are still only being paid for “book miles”. How many companies pay drivers to pretrip, posttrip, drop, hook, fuel, scale or any of the other tasks done almost daily? How many pay for time spent on shipper/consignee docks even when customers pay detention? Pay drivers for ALL of their work related activities and we’ll see a real increase in driver pay.
You said it all right there Jude pay us for all the work we do
Jude you hit the nail on the head!!!
Amen Jude.
we need a union!
Why? So we can all rent our jobs from another corrupt organization? We already give the federal government too much!!
We had a union, it went as corrupt as the Biden administration. What we need is drivers to refuse to work for chump change. I got rid of my own truck last November and took a company job that started me at .75cpm, gave me a raise to .80cpm after three months and sent an email that said said I can expect another five cent per mile bump at the beginning of next month. When the dust settles and I’m not paying for fuel, permits, insurance, making truck payments, or squirreling away maint./ breakdown money, I am actually making more now than when I owned my own truck.
The trucking companies still want to adhere to the antiquated pay measure of zip code to zip code. While this was unfair in the 70’s and 80’s it was all they had as they seemingly can’t read odometers.
Now however trucks can be traced within feet of every movement. I grow tired of miles driven, legitimately but not paid.
Miles mean minutes, mean hours which eat up log time.
I was at a job fair once and saw a company advertising “all miles paid”. When I asked the recruiter if that meant they pay hub miles he quickly corrected that idea. When I asked how they can claim to pay “all miles” and only pay book miles, I was told, “It all works out even in the end.” I replied, “Yeah, right where you screw the driver” as I walked away.
Don’t worry autonomous trucks will put us all out of business.
Midwest Freight Systems out of Warren, Michigan pays $.65 for all miles. I made over $75,000 last year. Was let go by them for insubordination, for calling them out on their lies and stupidity. They treat you like a number and have trouble sending you home. They record your calls and promise to live up to what they promise, but fail miserably. I’ll take less money for more hometime. Been in this business since 1985 and I am tired of this industry anymore.
Autonomous trucks are decades away. You hear/read a lot of “so called” advancements. Not.
There is no infrastructure to support autonomy…just like electric Class 8 trucks are coming. The computers, sensors, satellite/GPS technologies have to react to road/traffic/non-autonomous vehicles instantaneously. AI is not developed enough to predetermine how a human reacts. How many times have we been cut off?