There are more women truck drivers and fleet management in the over-the-road trucking industry than there were a year ago, according to a research by the Women In Trucking Association.

WIT has partnered with the National Transportation Institute, which surveys hundreds of trucking firms for data regarding driver wages, benefits, retirement plans and more, to  track information on women drivers and management.

In this year’s survey, the percentage of female drivers increased from 7.13% last year to 7.89% at the end of 2017. The number of women in management has increased as well, from 23% last year to 23.75%.

The WIT/NTI survey numbers contrast with the U.S. Department of Labor figures, which track women employed as “driver/sales workers and truck drivers.” The NTI figures track over-the-road drivers specifically.

In addition, there has been a 19% improvement in the number of carriers that are now reporting these numbers. In the past two years, there has been a 19% improvement in those companies tracking the percentage of female drivers and managers. This means that more companies are actually monitoring these figures and can benchmark with other carriers in the industry, WIT points out.

For those companies who participated in the research, over 25% of the carriers surveyed reported nearly a 28.7% average increase in their female driver population.  

Women In Trucking has also partnered with the Memphis University to track the percentage of women who serve in management and on the boards of publicly traded carriers.  Of the 16 organizations, 12, or 75%, have female directors, a slight increase from 2016 where 10 out of 15, or 67%, included women on their boards. 

This index of publicly traded carriers also tracks the percentage of women holding executive positions. Only six out of 15 companies showed women in management roles, which was unchanged from 2016.

This year’s index names ArcBest, led by CEO Judy McReynolds, as the leader in both groups, with 28% female executives and 33% of the board of director seats held by women.