For research-based data on the truck driving industry, the National Transportation Institute (NTI) is the resource to refer to. Their recently conducted National Survey of Driver Wages and National Driver Index shows that mileage, hourly, and annual earnings remain high for truck drivers, growing throughout the first quarter of 2023.
Even though this is good news for those in the driver’s seat, you might be wondering the cause behind these steadily high earnings. Fleets across the nation are compensating their drivers beyond their paychecks with additional bonuses, productivity incentives, and accessorial pays, according to NTI’s report.
As corrections in the freight market and uncertainty in economic conditions took hold, fleet managers and professional drivers alike may have been bracing themselves. However, throughout the first quarter (year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter) wage growth continued to rise across segments, driver experience, and trailer and fleet types. NTI’s report shows that gains were stunted from the final months of 2022, but the current wage momentum is notable nonetheless, particularly for new drivers.
“By percentage, drivers with a mere one year of experience saw their base per-mile wages grow 5.4% from 2022’s first quarter,” according to the report. “Base pay for drivers with three years of experience grew 5% year over year. Base pay for the highest paid drivers, so-called cap earners, grew 4.3%. Those percentage gains are similar for drivers paid on an hourly basis, too.”
Here’s some perspective on those percentages to up their notability. The average annual gain for wages has reached 5% in only five of the nearly 30 years NTI has been collecting data on the compensation of professional drivers.
“The per-mile pay ranges have been removed from this chart, which is based on the National Driver Wage Index and shows pay prevalence for drivers with one year of experience, but you can see the prevalence of fleets’ pay ranges migrate up the scale compared to 2022’s first quarter,” according to the report. “The frenzied hiring pressures of 2021 and early 2022 have certainly subsided, but NTI compensation data reveals that recruiting indicators are still showing strength, both compared to 2022’s fourth quarter and year over year.”
The number of fleets offering both sign-on and referral bonuses has grown as the industry’s settled into the first quarter of 2023. The prevalence of sign-on bonuses was up 10 percentage points in comparison to last year’s findings. And the dollar amounts are growing as well, for sign-on and referral bonuses alike. Additionally, the number of fleets offering their drivers guaranteed pay has seen sustained growth, making a strong case for the strength and resilience of America’s truck driving industry.
Source: The Trucker
