Some MA Towns Offering Snow Plow Drivers $155 Per Hour

MASSACHUSETTS — The Massachusetts Department of Transportation pays its snow plow drivers $31.25, but drivers who have their own truck can make significantly more by contracting with dozens of towns facing a worker shortage this winter.

"This is a problem that has gone on for the last few years and it's getting worse," Chelmsford Town Manager Paul Cohen told NBC Boston, which first reported this story. Cohen currently has six openings with winter on the way. He's offering $110 per hour to plow drivers with their own equipment.

Other Massachusetts towns are also offering steep hourly rates. Worcester and Lowell are paying $155 per hour, while Watertown is paying up to $200 if the drivers have commercial driver's licenses. On Cape Cod, Sandwich is looking for drivers willing to plow snow for $125 per hour.

The coronavirus pandemic has caused a labor shortage that has been particularly hard on local governments, who rely on hundreds of employees with specialized skill and, in some cases, contractors with special equipment. On Monday, state officials ended an assignment for 200 Massachusetts National Guardsmen, who had been driving school buses in towns that were struggling to hire workers.