Truck Driver Pay Index Reaches Record High After Sharp Two-Month Surge
A joint payroll index from AscendTMS and Superior Trucking Payroll Services shows driver compensation hitting an all-time high, signaling potential margin pressure and rising freight costs for the logistics sector.
Compensation for truck drivers has surged to an unprecedented level, according to a joint index calculated by AscendTMS and Superior Trucking Payroll Services. The metric reached 170.04 in June, marking a 13.5 percent increase in just two months and representing the highest two-month gain in the index’s history.
The index, which uses a January 2020 baseline of 100, had previously sunk to a post-pandemic low of 115.9 in January 2024. After hitting a cyclical low of 132.18 in September 2024, the metric began a steep ascent, climbing to 150.83 in April before its recent record jump.
For investors and logistics executives, this rapid acceleration in wages serves as a critical indicator of tightening labor markets within the freight industry. Rising driver compensation typically translates to higher operating costs for carriers, which can compress profit margins or force companies to pass expenses onto shippers through increased freight rates.
The data specifically isolates employee driver pay, deliberately excluding independent contractors, back-office staff, and executive compensation. Superior Trucking Payroll Services president Mike Ritzema noted that the methodology removes outliers, taking out "the shop people and the office people and the president of the company who pays himself either $1 per year or $8 million per year."
The underlying data reflects a broad cross-section of the industry, covering thousands of drivers paid weekly by companies ranging from single-truck operations to 500-truck fleets. Ritzema described the cohort as encompassing "flatbedders and reefer haulers and all in between."
Although the index has been calculated since 2020, it previously lacked broad public visibility. AscendTMS chief executive Tim Higham stated that his firm handles payroll settlements for small to medium-sized carriers, which are then transmitted electronically to Superior for processing. The recent magnitude of the wage increases prompted both executives to publicly promote the data to confirm anecdotal reports of rising compensation.
