Up or Down For Real?

Where in the world do you get 226/234 million?

Us Population is 331 million
Labor force population is about 164 million


Your trend is correct but the numbers are way off

 

I doubt any new jobs are being created.
Some lazy people are now being forced back into the workforce because they have run out of ways to game the welfare system.
~
In January there were 11.3 million job openings, 6.5 million hires and 6.1 million separations, according to the Department of Labor’s latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.
There are more than 11 million open jobs in America right now - CNBC
www.cnbc.com/2022/03/10/there-are-more-than-11-million-open-jobs-in-ame

 

01. Almost zero. The wages are rock bottom now for the demands of the job. Common perception is if you look at all hours worked many company OTR drivers are working below minimum wage.

02. My opinion well over a decade if not 2. The tech needs a whole lot of development. My biggest concern is I live along one of the highways identified to teach the trucks how to drive by both Pacar and Daimler. Thankfully I have good non interstates to keep them away from me.

03. Electric trucks may roll out in that time frame for the Port to DC, urban/metro delivery, and home every night business models. Essentially the stuff that is currently running or converting to propane. At this time electric are not practical for wide spread use in long haul. One thing that is being pushed is to use them for relay runs. I have seen photos of a potato chip producer (very light weight loads) running one now. One thing to keep in mind is that not all trucks are class 8 tractor trailer setups.

 

Wages are subjective.

An average driver who is hitting his full 70 for 50 weeks is working 2500 hours.

In order for the wage to be close to minimal, he will be making a gross of $38,500.

Right now we need fewer drivers and definitely not those under 21.

 

I think you meant 3500 hours. And, to put that into perspective, the normal 40 hour a week labor year is 2080 hours. But, your point, unfortunately, escapes a lot of drivers' comprehension. I work with a guy that likes to brag about his check. Yes, he literally makes more than I do, but when you compare the hours worked for the pay received, I earn a higher hourly wage. That's because I refuse (no force dispatch where I work) to run loads that don't average out at least $30.00 an hour. It's not worth my time. I refer to it as the "Andrew Principle". I had my own business 12 years ago and had an employee that drove me nuts because he would not do certain jobs (he was a carpenter) because they didn't pay enough. He would say "I'd rather sit home that day and watch tv than to do that job for that pay". As much as it drove me nuts (because I needed the job done), I understood his position.

 

Might wanna recheck your math .

70 x 50 is 3500
Or maybe it’s a fat fingered typo like I do all the time.

the wages are up for some and down for some .

but if you have skills that the average flip flop wearing driver doesn’t have ,
You can earn more than they do .

my roommate drives a brand new W-900-L (he even got to go to the KW dealer and select the color when the company ordered it ) for a small 6 to 10 trucks heavy haul company , made $97k last year on his W-2 and was home every weekend .

You can’t compete with the megas or with the immigrant drivers doing normal 53 foot dry vans .
You have to find a niche that they can’t do.
The company he works for requires spotless credit , zero criminal record , clean driving record , does a thorough background investigation on the driver and the drivers family, and requires the driver to be native born citizen .

those requirements eliminates about 90-95% of available drivers .

 

Yep 3500, I mistyped it.