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By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com — Walmart (NYSE:WMT) stock traded 1% higher Thursday after the company said it is raising pay for drivers, an effort aimed at retaining and attracting more staff to operate its giant trucks.
In-house truck drivers will now be able to earn up to $110,000 in their first year at the company, the company said in a release. At the high end, that’s 26% higher than the previous average pay for newly hired drivers, Bloomberg said.
Drivers who have been with Walmart longer can earn even more, based on factors like tenure and location, it said.
The retailer also touted a private fleet development program to train and help staff become drivers. Employees in Dover, Delaware, and Dallas have earned commercial driver’s licenses over the course of the 12-week program, Walmart said.
Walmart’s latest exercise reflects the anxiety of retailers as they struggle to stock up their stores and deliver supplies to customers while facing a massive shortage of drivers and other staff.
The company, which employs about 12,000 truck drivers, had to hire 7,000 over the last two years, including a record 4,500 in 2021, the spokeswoman said. The U.S. is short by 80,000 drivers, according to the American Trucking Associations.
