Banks No Match for Trucks Where Rigs Pay Twice as Much - Bloomberg
The average annual wage for U.S. heavy truck and tractor trailer drivers rose to $39,830 in 2011, up 9.7 percent from five years before, according to the most recent data available from the Labor Department. Average hourly wages increased the same amount during the period to $19.15.
From the end of 2010 through January, trucking companies have boosted payrolls by 8.1 percent, or 102,900 jobs, more than twice the 3.4 percent gain in overall employment, according to Labor Department data released Feb. 1. During the 18-month recession that ended in June, 2009, trucking jobs declined at about double the rate of total payroll losses.
Analysts project more gains as the economy expands and truckers face new limits on hours of service. The industry is more than 125,000 drivers short of what it needs to meet demand, according to FTR Associates, the Bloomington, Indiana-based freight data and forecasting firm. The shortfall probably will more than double at the end of this year to 259,000 drivers, the biggest deficit in nine years, according to an FTR forecast.
JobDig Chief Executive Officer Toby Dayton said some trucking firms are turning down business because of driver shortages. They are paying higher salaries, offering signing bonuses and paying for training, certification and licensing for new drivers, he said.
“They know that wages are going to have to go up in this area if they want to get their trucks on the road,” Dayton said. “They literally have trucks sitting in lots that aren’t moving and they’ve got to turn down jobs if they can’t get drivers for 17 trucks that they have in St. Cloud, Minnesota. There’s a very high level of frustration.”
Some companies are paying bonuses of as much as $5,000 for drivers who stay for at least a year and are even starting their own training programs, said Charles Clowdis, managing director of transportation advisory services at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts. He sees the need for recruits in newspaper ads and on the air.
The average annual wage for U.S. heavy truck and tractor trailer drivers rose to $39,830 in 2011, up 9.7 percent from five years before, according to the most recent data available from the Labor Department. Average hourly wages increased the same amount during the period to $19.15.
From the end of 2010 through January, trucking companies have boosted payrolls by 8.1 percent, or 102,900 jobs, more than twice the 3.4 percent gain in overall employment, according to Labor Department data released Feb. 1. During the 18-month recession that ended in June, 2009, trucking jobs declined at about double the rate of total payroll losses.
Analysts project more gains as the economy expands and truckers face new limits on hours of service. The industry is more than 125,000 drivers short of what it needs to meet demand, according to FTR Associates, the Bloomington, Indiana-based freight data and forecasting firm. The shortfall probably will more than double at the end of this year to 259,000 drivers, the biggest deficit in nine years, according to an FTR forecast.
JobDig Chief Executive Officer Toby Dayton said some trucking firms are turning down business because of driver shortages. They are paying higher salaries, offering signing bonuses and paying for training, certification and licensing for new drivers, he said.
“They know that wages are going to have to go up in this area if they want to get their trucks on the road,” Dayton said. “They literally have trucks sitting in lots that aren’t moving and they’ve got to turn down jobs if they can’t get drivers for 17 trucks that they have in St. Cloud, Minnesota. There’s a very high level of frustration.”
Some companies are paying bonuses of as much as $5,000 for drivers who stay for at least a year and are even starting their own training programs, said Charles Clowdis, managing director of transportation advisory services at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts. He sees the need for recruits in newspaper ads and on the air.
