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September 13, 2005 10:00 AM, EDT

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ruck drivers are among the professions which have seen wages decline on an inflation-adjusted basis from 1997 through 2004, according to a Labor Department survey reported in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal.

The average hourly wage for truckers fell an inflation-adjusted 9% to $14.85, the Journal said, citing the Labor study.

Truck drivers have seen some income gains over the past few years in response to labor shortages, the Journal said.

But the gains have come following years of losses fed by new route-mapping technology and increases in railroad shipping, the paper said, citing Tom Nightingale, vice president of corporate marketing for truckload carrier Schneider National.