Originally published at: Truck driver wage stagnation: the surprising truth - FreightWaves
When adjusted for inflation, truck driver wages have grown 1.1% in 15 years.
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Therr is no driver shortage only a shortage of drivers willing to work for free or sweatshop wages.
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What was the driver wage per mile in the early 1970’s? I was getting paid .28 per mile as a Team driver. Today 25 years later ( I hear there is no inflation in the truck driver industry) truck drivers are lucky if they are getting .56 per mile. I think truck drivers should be getting by now $1 per mile. In reality, a jar of peanut butter or a loaf of bread will increase by how much? In those 53 ft trailers they transport how much? How many containers and how many loaves?
Lets let President Trump improve the economy, so everybody can make a better wage and afford to pay that extra quarter for a jar of peanut butter or the loaf of bread.
This is also a problem we’re going to have until our wages are regulated. New drivers coming in can make the same at mcdonalds or Taco Bell and be home every night. These jobs should start at $100k a year, with no questions asked medical benefits end of story. As far as a wage cap for good experienced driver it should be $5 a mile or about $780,000 a year for an average 3000 mile a week driver. It’s not complicated in the 90’s I was working construction and watches as EVERY new house we built was sold to a truck driver in the wealthiest neighborhood in town. Now a driver can’t even afford their own apartment without roommates. It’s a disgrace and needs to stop. You demand trucking schools for every driver, we demand pay.
Sounds like communism to me