The National Survey of Driver Wages reports little change in rates per mile paid to drivers for the quarter reported in its August newsletter.

The Survey's Company Driver Wage Index saw a slight decline for dry van and refrigerated carriers (.4 percent and .7 percent, respectively), but that was due to carriers increasing the cost drivers pay for health insurance rather than a change in the per-mile rate. (Flatbed drivers saw an average pay increase of just under 1 percent.) Of the 43 carriers reported to make a wage change during the quarter, 63 percent of those were changes to the health plan. Of those, 37 percent increased what drivers pay from zero to a range of $5.85 to $30 per week.
"Arguably, the carrier probably absorbed a greater increase in health premiums," notes the Survey's newsletter, as nationwide health insurance costs have significantly increased recently. "So while the drivers are contributing more, the benefit cost to the carrier may have increased significantly."
The most sizable wage rate increase came from Air-Ride Inc., which raised starting pay by 5 cents per mile for drivers with three years of experience.
On the other end of the scale, new drivers for M.S. Carriers will be paid less. M.S. Carriers, recently acquired by Swift Transportation, adopted Swift's Eastern regional pay package, which pays 30.5 cents per mile to new drivers with three years' experience. Current drivers were grandfathered into M.S. Carriers' previous pay package, with a starting rate of 33 cents per mile. Any drivers who leave the company and later return will be rehired under the new pay package, according to the National Survey.