Average hourly earnings for all transportation and warehousing industries increased 3.5% in the first six months of 2003 compared to costs a year earlier. When we compared wages for the first five months of 2003 to year-earlier figures, we found that wage-rate escalation in the air transportation segment slowed to 3.5%, hitting $16.03 per hour in May. Wage escalation for truckload drivers registered steady 3.3% growth to reach $16.29 per hour. LTL drivers garnered an increase of 4.6%, to $18.48 per hour. Workers in the freight arrangement, or brokerage, industry saw their wages grow 6% to $16.30 while those employed in warehouses experienced a 0.3% decline to $14.84. Click here for a table of wage data for these markets.