Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/661417
4 www.studentdriverplacement.com April '16 The 30-year decline of driver wages Klemp noted in his presentation that trucker pay has seen a dramatic drop in the last 30 years relative to infl ation. Klemp's slide on driver pay's failure to keep up with infl ation. Annual driver pay averaged $38,618 in 1980, he said, which, if ad- justed to 2015 dollars, would be north of $110,000 a year. Klemp also presented a chart that overlaid driver turnover rates with average driver pay at three fl eets, one for-hire and two private. Trucker pay at the for-hire fl eet averages $54,000, and the fl eet has a 100 percent turnover rate, per Kl- emp's chart. The two private fl eets, which have more highly paid drivers, posted a driver turnover rate of 14 percent each. "The difference is huge," Klemp noted. One of the private fl eets pay drivers on average $66,00 a year. The other pays its drivers an average of $82,000. Owner-operator and company driver pay has climbed since 2013, buck- ing the overall U.S. trend of declining household income in the same span, Klemp said. The looming regulatory snare Although carriers have trouble fi nding and keeping drivers now, the industry may be "at the lull before the storm," Klemp said, effectively issuing a warning about the potentially major impact that coming federal regula- tions may have on trucking. "The big issue is: How many drivers are going to wash out just through regulations?" Klemp asked. "We know we've got a bunch of them retiring, but we don't know what [the] regulations will do to productivity." Klemp cited three key regulations yet to take effect that could cut driver and fl eet productivity by as much as 15 percent. An electronic logging device man- date, set to take effect in December 2017, could reduce productivity by as much as 5 percent, he said. A speed limiter mandate, likely to take effect after the ELD mandate, could cut capacity by another 3 to 5 percent. Efforts to make hair testing the standard method for drug testing truck operators will likely take a big toll on the driver pool too, Klemp said, potentially as much as 6 per- cent, given hair testing's more effec- tive than urine analysis at detecting substance use. ◆ |Feature | Klemp's slide on driver pay's failure to keep up with infl ation.