While pay increases are slowing, wages are still rising. Driver pay has grown 1.5% over the last four quarters, compared to gains of over 10% in 2021 and over 5% in 2022, NTI found.
“Throughout the year, despite hiring needs slowing and an industry imbalance of freight demand and trucking capacity, sign-on bonuses and referral bonuses continued to outpace 2022 in both prevalence and amount,” the institute said.
Based on W-2 median earnings for drivers with three years of experience, full-year pay for 2023 is projected to be $72,233 in dedicated fleets, $71,907 in over the road and $65,591 in regional, NTI said in an interview with Trucking Dive.
