Driver pay finds a new pattern: 3 trends from the latest driver wages data

After four full economic quarters of a downward trending freight cycle, driver pay has settled into a pattern of incremental upward movement both quarter to quarter and year over year, finding a more historically routine rate of growth after two years highlighted by surges. Here are three key trends in the latest driver pay data.

Driver pay strategies for the current market — plus a glance at 2023’s driver compensation trends

What are the top 2023 driver pay trends that should be on your fleet’s radar? How can fleets navigate the current sluggish freight market from a personnel and compensation standpoint? What are driver seeing and experiencing with their paychecks this year? NTI’s Leah Shaver joined the Taking the Hire Road podcast last week, hosted by DriverReach’s Jeremy Reymer, to discuss those point sand more. See the full episode here.

Out-of-network fuel buys can cost your fleet big bucks. Here’s how to incentivize and educate drivers to pad their paychecks and your fleet’s bottom line

Tying fuel network compliance and cost savings to driver pay is a critical area where fleets can engage with their drivers, use internal marketing programs to communicate with drivers, and provide an opportunity for drivers to take home more money without increasing payroll expenses. Here are strategies for your fleet to use in the current freight market.

‘At some point, every entry-level driver has to drive their first mile’: NTI talks with Roadmaster president about redefining the value of incoming drivers

Fleets that hire, recruit, and welcome inexperience drivers through their doors see the value in creating opportunities in trucking for this cohort of professional truckers. NTI talks with Roadmaster about the value to all fleets to recognize the opportunity to shape long-term driver retention by hiring industry newcomers. Watch the interview here.

What’s next for Women in Trucking under new leadership? NTI interviews incoming President & CEO Jennifer Hedrick about the group’s barrier-breaking mission

What’s next for The Women in Trucking Association as Jennifer Hedrick, incoming president and CEO, takes the helm? NTI’s Leah Shaver, a longtime member and three-term board of director at WIT, had the chance to sit down one on one with Hedrick this week to ask her just that, as well as to learn more about what’s next for WIT short term and long term as Hedrick becomes only the second leader of the 17-year-old association. 

Notable pandemic-era driver pay trend reversed course this quarter

Driver wage gains saw a renewed momentum in 2023’s second quarter, showing a little life after gains were mostly flat in the last quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023, according to the latest data from NTI’s National Survey of Driver Wages and National Driver Wage Index. Also, a notable trend from the pandemic recovery years of 2021 and 2022 reversed course this quarter. See our full 2023 Q2 driver wages data trends and highlights.