Walmart offers new truckers up to $110K pay to address shortage

• Walmart has launched a salary hike and new training program to entice new truck drivers.
• Truckers, who previously made an average of $87,500 in their first year with Walmart, will now get between $95,000 and $110,000.
• The retailer’s moves were made to address a national shortage of truck drivers in the U.S.

Walmart is seeking to address the trucker shortage by raising wages and launching a new training program.

The retailer announced the training program and pay bump on its corporate website on Thursday morning.

While the company did not provide the current salary range, they said that truckers previously made an average of $87,500 in their first year with Walmart. Now, that number will increase to between $95,000 and $110,000.

In Sanger, Texas, and Dover, Delaware, a 12-week program has been launched to help people earn a commercial driver’s license and join Walmart’s fleet. Company spokeswoman Anne Hatfield said that the program covers the $4,000-$5,000 cost of earning a license.

According to Hatfield, the program will initially be open only to supply chain associates near the two training locations, but all Walmart employees will eventually be able to apply. For this year, the company aims to train between 400 and 800 new drivers.

It has been a tight market for trucking labor, with the U.S. hitting an all-time high of more than 80,000 workers last year.

The American Trucking Associations trade group said that the shortage could be attributed to several issues, such as the grueling hours of long-haul trips, the older average age of current drivers and the small number of women in the industry. The shortage worsened amid the pandemic, as more truck drivers left the industry and fewer people applied for training.

Walmart has about 1.6 million workers, about 12,000 of whom are truck drivers. In 2021, they hired 4,500 truckers, the largest number in its history, as it prepared to adjust to the growing e-commerce business.

More of Walmart’s sales shifted online as more people got groceries delivered or picked up curbside. Soaring online sales have shaken up business operations as they race to deliver packages quickly while keeping stock.

In the last full fiscal year, which ended Jan. 31, U.S. e-commerce sales rose 11%.

Source: CNBC