In 2017, the American trucking industry posted revenues higher than the GDP of more than 150 nations.
Approximately 5.8% of all full-time jobs in America are related to trucking
Walmart alone employs more than 8,600 truckers
In recent years, Walmart has been turning away from third-party contracts and employing its own truckers, including a hiring surge of more than 1,400 new drivers brought on in 2018 and hundreds more so far in 2019. Walmart truckers earn on average nearly $88,000 per year, CBS reported.
In 2017, trucks moved 10.8 billion tons of freight
next slide will load in 15 secondsSkip AdSkip AdAnd trucks move more than 70% of all goods transported around the United States
More than 40% of the jobs in the American trucking industry are held by minorities
Not one of the regulators charged with overseeing the trucking industry was ever a truck driver
Most grocery stores would run out of food in just three days if long-haul truckers stopped driving
Many experts think the trucking industry needs to hire 900,000 more drivers
In 2018, the American Trucking Associations released a statement saying the industry needed to hire almost 900,000 more drivers to meet the growing demands put on the industry.
However, not everyone is agreement with the state of the industry. A Bureau of Labor Statistics report published earlier this year said the apparent shortage of drivers may actually be overblown.
next slide will load in 15 secondsSkip AdSkip AdTruck drivers earn less than most Americans in terms of annual income
Despite all the chatter about the growing trucking industry and the need for drivers, it's not the most lucrative line of work. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2018, the median income was about $46,800 per year, while median annual wage for truckers was $43,680.
The average professional long-haul trucker logs more than 100,000 miles per year