Paul D. Larson

Canada is facing a labour shortage in transportation and logistics. Truck drivers, warehouse workers, and executives are all in short supply. In 2008, women made up 47 percent of Canada’s 17 million person workforce. However, only 24.5 percent of the 858,000 people working in transportation and warehousing were women. If a partial solution to Canada’s logistics labour shortage is to attract more women to the field, then perhaps assurance of a fair and reasonable salary can facilitate the attraction. The purpose of this paper is to test a series of hypotheses, derived from compensation theory, on predictors of transportation and logistics management salaries. One of the hypotheses, on the effect of sex on salary, assesses competing theories, i.e. human capital versus discrimination. These hypotheses are tested using the results of a survey on transportation and logistics management salaries in Canada. Seven variables were found to be significant predictors of salary. Managers working longer hours, at larger organizations, with more education, more experience, more subordinates, and greater budget responsibility reported larger salaries. In addition, after controlling for these human capital and organizational context variables, gender had a significant impact on salary. Male transportation and logistics managers reported earning significantly higher salaries than their female counterparts. The paper includes implications for logistics employees and employers, along with a discussion of future research opportunities.