Walmart Wants To Hire 900 Truckers And Pay Them Nearly $90,000 A Year

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(CBS NEWS) -- The 8,000 truckers who work for Walmart are getting a raise, as the retailing heavyweight looks to hire hundreds more amid an ongoing shortage of drivers.

Walmart's bid to recruit more truck drivers had it running national TV ads in the fall, shortening the hiring process and offering referral bonuses of as much as $1,500. The company hired 1,400 new drivers in 2018, and "hundreds more are slate to join in 2019," according to Walmart.

Starting next month, truck drivers will get a per-mile hike of one cent and an extra $1 each time they drop a trailer at a destination, Walmart said Wednesday. That will bring average pay for drivers to $87,500 a year. The company also said people can expect predictable schedules, at least 21 days of paid time off and possible quarterly bonuses.