Truck driver salary: How much do truck drivers earn per month?

Without them, the highway would be empty – just like our refrigerators: trucks. As a driver, getting angry about them is rather silly. The men who control the giants transport billions of tons of goods through the Federal Republic every year. Railways and ships only transport a fraction of this amount.

Truck drivers are important to our economy. But as with many other relevant professions, this is not reflected in their salary. How much do drivers earn?

Truck driver salaries vary greatly. Only a minority belong to a trade union. Accordingly, few drivers are paid according to a collective agreement.

It is attractive to drive for the state – i.e. in the public service. In a job like this, the . Newly hired drivers receive a flat rate of 3,422.11 euros gross per month if they drive between 185 and 196 hours per month. The longer the monthly working hours, the higher the salary.

Anyone who is paid according to this will receive an hourly wage of 14.27 euros to 15.42 euros as a young professional with training. For 40 hours per week, the gross salary is between 2,283.20 euros and 2,467.20 euros. After two years of professional experience, the hourly wage increases to 14.70 euros to 15.85 euros (as of September 2024).

According to , a project by the trade union-affiliated Economic and Social Sciences Institute (WSI), the average gross monthly wage when starting a career is around 2,310 euros per month. But professional experience hardly pays off. Even after ten years, the salary is only 2,400 euros. Even after 20 years on the job, drivers only earn an average of 2,440 euros, according to the WSI.

The WSI data is based on the salary information of 4,277 professional drivers. They also show that the profession is still very male-dominated. Only three percent of those surveyed were female. At around 2,220 euros, their salary is almost eight percent lower than that of their male colleagues.