c a r r ie r  n o t e s

Fleets Make ‘Aggressive’ Driver Pay Increases

Many van and flatbed carriers who have resisted matching the well-publicized driver wage increases decided to raise driver pay in the second quarter, according to the latest National Survey of Driver Wages by Wisconsin-based SignPost Inc.
     Although the total number of carriers adjusting their pay packages in the second quarter is typical, the size of the wage increases was “very aggressive,” notes the company. The raw average moved up 5.7%, compared to 4.9% and 3.3% in the second quarters of 1996 and 1997, respectively.
     For both the van and flatbed segments, more than 90% of the wage increases were made by carriers in the lowest half of the pay-per-mile rates. “Apparently, carriers with lower wage rates are finding their wage packages to be noncompetitive in the marketplace for drivers,” the company says.
     That was not the case for refrigerated carriers, where only 14% of the wage moves came from carriers in the lower half. Instead, 86% came from carriers in the top 25% of the per-mile pay packages. SignPost speculates that “refrigerated carriers … may be losing drivers to shorter-haul van carriers with much higher wage rates.”