St Louis Missouri Local Job

Cement jobs in my area (Tulsa, OK) are starting at $17/hr. Being within 8hrs of St. Louis I can't see much difference in pay there. But, a good idea would be to ask the drivers at the place you work.
Dump trucks sometimes pay a percentage of each load, I think its around 20-30% about anywhere.

However, those two industries are very up and down. Both, especially cement is getting ready to "quit" for the winter.
All transportation gets slow in the winter, with some few exceptions. I would stay away from those two. Look for openings in refueling fleet trucks with a class b truck, or delivering welding gas and other commodities. Or save yourself some time and money and just get your class A. The tests are similar on paper, obviously different for the driving. You could get some experience at a roofing company, goodwill, etc. Once you have at least one year, 2 yrs preferred of tractor trailer experience you will be able to go almost anywhere and drive.

 

Get your Class A then you can make more money. Maybe haul tankers of dry bulk cement/flyash like you see delivered to construction sites like you've probaby seen many times.