The Source for Trucking News, Opinions and Trucking Jobs | Driver Shortage but, No Wage Increase

Truck Driver Jobs blog is another blog I keep on eye on. Articles mostly about trucking’s job outlooks and company’s recruiting efforts. This particular post caught my eye -

Fed Highlights Driver Shortage - Truck Driver Jobs Blog.
…where "Trucking firms reported continuing high rates of activity, resulting in difficulty finding sufficient numbers of drivers.".

So far so good, but…

Many contacts also reported that their firms intend to increase base
rates beginning in 2006. Carriers continued to report difficulty
attracting and retaining drivers, however few firms planned to increase
wages. Some acquisitions are reportedly being undertaken to add
additional drivers to firms.

and

In spite of these persistent truck driver shortages, "trucker wage gains reportedly slowed".

I think carriers are going to have to raise rates and  wages to attract the best drivers so they don’t end up on the national news. Some carriers are finally raising wages, there’s news of it all the time, but it may be too little too late. There’s more of the same in the post and the actual report.

It’s a good time to be a truck driver with a clean MVR and a no criminal record or DUI in your background. If prices go up at the market, so be it. There’s a fine balance between things being so expensive that people stop buying and the economy slows and actually having too many trucks and drivers.

And then there’s corporate greed. Trying to sell the most and have people working for you for the least amount possible. There’s an argument in favor of illegal immigration that says, illegal workers keep the price of produce down. I’d rather pay a little more at the market to end the slavery of illegal immigrants (don’t even get me started on immigration). Same thing in trucking, you’re going to have to pay a little more to have a quality driver and be able to keep that quality driver behind the wheel.