Dive Brief:
- Walmart seeks to hire approximately 1,500 truck drivers as part of a 40,000-associate hiring push for the holidays, company spokesperson Nick DeMoss said in a statement Friday to Transport Dive.
- The overall hiring spree includes seasonal and full-time workers, according to a news release. The truck driver positions will be permanent.
- As part of the announcement, the company also highlighted its Private Fleet Development program, a three-month program that launched this year for its workers to earn CDLs. But the retailer declined to answer questions about its progress with the training program.
Dive Insight:
Walmart has upped its efforts this year to strengthen its truck driver pipeline for the holiday season and beyond. The retailer is continuing its push with competitive wages, offering new drivers starting salaries of up to $110,000, a figure the company unveiled in April.
At which time, the retailer also announced the launch of its Private Fleet Development program and goal to train 400 to 800 new drivers. DeMoss said that goal is still the company’s intention, adding that as of Tuesday, Walmart had nearly 13,000 truck drivers.
Like Walmart, other carriers have noted hiring pushes and driver needs. Yellow Corp. recently expanded its training efforts, adding new driving academies this year to support the training of 1,000 new drivers. For Marten Transport, its Q2 earnings had salaries, wages and benefits increase $21.2 million YoY, primarily led by additional company driver compensation of $15 million.
Meanwhile, Werner Enterprises recently noted how driver woes could limit its growth. The company said in its Q2 filing that it expects its “tractor count at the end of 2022 to be in a range of 2% to 5% higher when compared to the fleet size at year end 2021, subject to the availability of drivers and new equipment.”
“The driver market has shown some signs of easing but remains very competitive in a tight labor market,” Werner President, Chairman and CEO Derek Leathers said for the Q2 earnings call.
The need for drivers comes as companies have continued to wrestle with retention, a longstanding issue that the American Trucking Associations says could require 160,000 drivers by 2030.
