Walmart wants to hire 900 truckers and pay them nearly $ 90,000 a year | WBNS-10TV Columbus, Ohio

The 8,000 truckers who work for Walmart are getting an increase, the average salary coming close to $ 90,000 a year, the heavyweight retailer seeking to hire hundreds of additional drivers in a context of driver shortages road.

Walmart's bid to recruit more truckers has had national television ads aired in the fall, which has shortened the hiring process and offered sponsorship bonuses of up to 1,500. dollars. The company hired 1,400 new drivers in 2018 and "hundreds of others are expected to join the group in 2019," according to Walmart.

Starting next month, truck drivers will get a raise of a penny a mile and an extra dollar every time they drop a trailer, he said Wednesday. This will bring the average salary of drivers to $ 87,500 a year. The company also said that people could expect predictable schedules, at least 21 days of paid vacation and possible quarterly bonuses.

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"The number one reason for our drivers to leave is retirement – our business figure is one of the lowest in the industry!" excludes Walmart's list of jobs for drivers.

Walmart did not immediately return a request for a turnover rate from its driver, but that is a problem for the trucking industry in general.

The churn rate of the industry was 87% in the third quarter, the American Trucking Association announced this month. Although it actually has the lowest staff turnover rate since the first quarter of 2017, the industry group attributed the high annualized turnover rate, but reduced wages and decreased volumes of freight transported in the country during the three-month period.

As of May 2017, the median annual wage for truck and trailer drivers was $ 42,480, according to the US Department of Labor. Driver compensation has since increased and, in March 2018, the price of a driver on an irregular national road rose to more than $ 53,000, the ATA found. The group predicts that the United States will have 175,000 drivers by 2026.

Walmart has had its own fleet of trucks since the 1970s. Drivers deliver to 4,700 Walmart and Sam's Club stores in the United States. Walmart requires that applicants have at least 30 months of full-time commercial driving experience and that they do not commit serious offenses. three years.