US job market madness: Walmart truck drivers paid more than Wall Street wonks
15:52, 8 April 2022
As US labour shortages persist, Walmart (WMT) is hoping to fill the missing links of its supply chain with a new recruiting programme for long-haul truckers. The starting pay package rivals salaries found on Wall Street.
In launching its Private Fleet Development Program, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer will offer a starting salary of $110,000 (£84,000) per year, 94.7% higher than the $56,491 industry average, Walmart said (based on data from employment website Glassdoor). More tenured drivers in select locations can earn more, Walmart added.
“In the year of our lord 2022, you can make more driving a truck than being an investment banking analyst,” noted daily financial news roundup The Water Coolest.
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Tight labour market for truckers
“Trucking is an extremely tight labour market, for cyclical and structural reasons. Drivers are in high demand today – a fact exacerbated by Covid,” noted industry trade group The American Trucking Associations (ATA) in a recent blog post. “To attract and retain drivers, fleets must increase pay, which is now happening at extraordinary levels.”
The ATA cited driver earnings have jumped 25% from historical averages since 2019 for long-haul truckers.
But the ATA also notes it will require more than higher wages to solve what it estimated as an 80,000 driver shortage in 2021. Several factors, including but not limited to, increased retirements due to Covid-19, a below average number of women in the industry compared to the overall workforce, federal age limits to becoming an interstate trucker and deteriorating infrastructure.
Other barriers to entry for prospective long-haul drivers include an inability to pass drug tests, despite marijuana being legalised for recreational use in 18 US states, as well as poor driving records or criminal history, the ATA added.
Higher trucker salaries not enough
The ATA estimates that, at current trends, the nationwide long-haul trucker shortage could top 160,000 by 2030 and states the industry will need to hire up to one million new drivers to fill the gaps expected from ageing out of the current workforce and freight-shipping growth projections.
Citing the backward-bending labour-supply curve, the ATA notes, “rising pay rates alone will not solve the driver shortage because some drivers will choose to work less at a higher pay rate, negating the impact of the increase.”
“The solution to the driver shortage will most certainly require increased pay, regulatory changes and modifications to shippers’, receivers’ and carriers’ business practices to improve conditions for drivers.”
12-week training course
To entice new drivers, Walmart introduced the Walmart Private Fleet Development Program, a 12-week training course in the Dallas, Texas and Dover, Delaware regions. Those who complete the programme will earn a commercial driver’s license and become Private Fleet Walmart drivers.
Walmart is repurposing some of its existing 12,000 Private Fleet drivers to teach trainees, both written material and actual driving, Walmart added.
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