Walmart is raising wages for long-haul truck drivers, a demanding job that is increasingly difficult for companies to fill.
Walmart (WMT), one of the few retail chains that runs its own fleet of trucks, reported that it is increasing the average starting salary for first-year drivers from $88,000 to a range of $95,000 to $110,000.
The latest pay increase "will help us continue to hire aggressively to meet ever-high demand from customers," a Walmart spokesperson explained in an email to CNN.
The company needs drivers to deliver products to e-commerce stores and warehouses, as well as to meet growing demand for online orders from customers, which is why there was even a surge in hiring last year.
Walmart hired more than 4,500 drivers last year, a record hiring spree for the company, which employs about 12,000 truckers in the United States, a country where about 70% of freight is moved by truck.
It also promotes worker turnover by starting a three-month development program for its supply chain workers in select areas to earn their commercial driver's licenses and become Walmart truck drivers.
