East Midlands’ Drivers Bring Home The Bacon
A
fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay. How often have you heard
that saying? It would depend on your definition of ‘fair’, of
course, and that will be different for every one of us based on what
we do and how much we are paid. It’s also said: all things are
relative, which would imply other factors will always have a part to
play.
To
demonstrate this point, a recent study by consumer research site
NimbleFins has taken a scientific approach to HGV driver wages. Their
investigation has found that pay rates and living standards are
strongly influenced by where you work. They based their research on
2018 data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) using it to
rank the financial circumstances of HGV drivers regionally.
And they have concluded that HGV drivers have a better standard of living if they work in the East Midlands.
Crunching
The Numbers
Nimblefins
devised a simple formula to rank HGV driver wages. They contrasted
pay levels to the cost of living by dividing the average pay by
typical household expenses. In doing this, they were able to
understand how HGV driver wages compared to the cost of living region
by region. Using this approach, they found HGV drivers in the East
Midlands came out top by earning an
average annual salary of £30,496.
HGV drivers in London earn an average of £31,110 slightly higher than East Midlanders. However, when you account for the relative cost of living, London’s HGV driver’s wages translate into lower living standards.
Job
Density
The
study also looked at job density. That is the number of available HGV
driving jobs per thousand workers. The underlying idea being the
ability for HGV drivers to maintain living standards in the future
due to job availability and wage competition. Again, the East
Midlands came out on top with 6.4 jobs per thousand compared with
only 1.6 per thousand for London.
Using
the same metrics, the study ranked HGV driver wages for each region
as follows.
- West Midlands ranked #2 for living standards with HGV driver wage averaging £29,567 and a job density of 5.8
- Yorkshire and Humber came a close third with average salaries of £28,923, with a 7.4 job density but more disadvantageous living costs
- London ranked at position #9
- In position #10 is the South West with £27,934 average HGV driver wages and a job density of 5.8 per thousand
- Worst ranked was South East England, which, despite a higher average wage of £30,274 had a job density of 4.4 and a more pronounced gap between pay and cost of living.
Erin
Yurday, NimbleFins chief executive officer,
summarised the study by saying:
"Data shows that the East Midlands is the best region for HGV drivers. On top of a local economy dependent upon industries like manufacturing, food processing and agriculture that relies on road transport, the East Midlands offers drivers the best combination of high pay, strong job availability and a lower cost of living.”
Useful
Insight
The
Truckcraft team always find this kind of information useful in
understanding our market and the circumstances under which our
clients are working. We’ll use Nimblefin’s data to inform our
marketing and business strategy going forward.
As
important, we hope all drivers no matter where they’re based have
the option of using a Truckcraft vehicle in their work. Given the
levels of comfort and user-friendly features we build into our
products, a Truckcraft van will undoubtedly contribute to their
overall standard of both working and living.
For more information on our range of premium delivery trucks and vans, please contact the Truckcraft Bodies sales team on 0161 304 9404. Alternatively, email glen.pinder@truckcraftbodies.co.uk or emma.jane@truckcraftbodies.co.uk.
Published: Dec 02