driver pay

Annualized turnover rate for large and small truckload carriers was up in the third quarter.

After nearly two decades, the federal government is finally close to establishing the first national database of drug and alcohol-impaired truck drivers. The database is expected to improve highway and heavy truck safety but at the expense of perhaps a few thousand drivers who fail random drug and alcohol testing but still manage to evade the system to find jobs in the trucking industry.

While it is true that 2018 marked what could be described as a boom year for the freight economy, a new report issued this week by the American Trucking Associations (ATA) revealed that the trucking sector needed 60,800 more for-hire over-the-road truckload drivers at the end of the year to meet the nation’s freight services demands.

Company officials said that this new program leverages what it called best-in-class learning and development techniques, with a technology-driven approach and a modern simulator, rather than lecture-style classes, a former teaching approach.

The nation’s largest retailer is increasing pay for truck drivers with three years’ accident-free experience to around $87,500.