WASHINGTON, D.C. Oct. 13 (DPI) — A driver shortage is pushing up wages in the long-haul trucking industry, with average pay up nearly 20% in the last 18 months as employers try to fill nearly 50,000 job openings, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Many readers applauded the news as a sign that some decent-paying jobs still exist for Americans with little formal education. But others warned not to get too comfortable, since automated driverless trucks may soon rule the roads, or Washington will open US trucking to non-US drivers.

Of course, readers also well recognized that long-haul truckers – typically paid 30-60 cents per mile — must deal with tough work that hasn’t changed much over  the years. Wrote one: “Truckers must work 14 hour days, six days a week. Average real pay is minimum wage when divided by those mandatory hours. Pay is by the mile. If you hit a traffic jam, no pay. If you wait at the load or unload spot, no pay.”

http://www.wsj.com/articles/drivers-reap-benefits-of-trucking-boom-1444728780

Still, the lower unemployment rate of 5.1%, according to economists, is a reflection of the addition of lower-paying service jobs such as restaurant workers, who earn substantially less than truckers and building contractors.

WSJ readers generally treated the report as positive news:

Truck Driver is one of the few decent paying jobs open to people who did not go beyond High School.  It is possible to get this job with some training and to keep it by working hard.  It is a good sign for the economy that demand exceeds supply and pay is going up.  It means that unskilled workers are getting decent paying employment and the economy is improving.

Better be putting it in their savings or towards new skills!  This is the first job to go when we get autonomous cars.  They are already on the roads being tested.

http://www.autoblog.com/2015/05/06/freightliner-inspiration-truck-first-autonomous-semi-nevada/

This article fails to mention that the vast majority of long-haul truckers working for common carriers, and paid by the mile, are not subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act overtime provisions.  So, they work a very difficult job, with tremendous responsibility for safety and customer service, spend days and days away from home, put tons of hours in on the job week after week, live in a truck cab 24 hours a day, and never make a single penny in overtime.  No wonder the trucking industry can’t find drivers!