New traveler, pay advice

[Emster83]

Hi all,

I'm a new traveler, in my first assignment in Florida as a rehab nurse. I've completed a 13 week assignment and was extended by my facility for another 13 weeks. I'm enjoying the assignment and the area, but wanted to ask for your input on pay rates. This is the rate in my contract:

Regular Rate: $18.59

On Call Rate: $3.00

Call Back Rate: $18.59

Holiday Rate: $27.89

Meals & Incidentals Per Diem Rate: $35.00/day

Per Diem Adjustments: Up to $629.30/week per diem may be adjusted based on number of shifts missed.

I also took the housing they provided since it was my first time traveling and didn't want the hassle of finding it myself :) I do not have a permanent tax home either. So my paychecks after taxes come out are around $1200 bi-weekly. This is sometimes less than I was making back home as a staff nurse.

Don't get me wrong, I realize that I'm not paying for housing but actually now that we've been here for a little while, I'm struggling a little bit with money, and certainly am not able to save much, if any. My husband is traveling with me and isn't working at this time because he is taking online classes. Anyways, the experience has been rewarding in other ways, for sure. I've just read a lot of the threads on here and seems like many people would say that this is low pay... so that's where I'm looking for a little input to make sure I'm not missing something. :)

Also, I entered what I could into Pan Travelers and this is what I got:

Gross pay:

Per hour - $27.52

Per year - $51,520.53

Taxes (est.):

Per hour - $8.06

Per year - $15,080.21

Net pay:

Per hour - $19.47

Per year - $36,440.32

Thanks in advance for any input and for helping out a newbie :) I have been shopping around a little bit with other companies and although it's too soon to be submitted for jobs (according to the recruiters) since my contract isn't up until the end of October, I'm trying to plan ahead with what I should be looking for in terms of pay rate and other opportunities.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

Moved to travel nursing forum

[NedRN]

Since you did not put in the value of your housing received, your total compensation is considerably understated. If you are paying income taxes on the housing, the taxable value should be on your paystub. If the penalty stated above represent real costs to the agency, it should include housing and per diem. Thus a bit of math would conclude that you are getting $420 per week for housing or about $11.66 an hour (assuming you are working 36 hours).

This ups your total compensation to around $39 an hour (it could be less if the actual cost of housing is lower). Yes that is low. Most travel nurses make $40 to $50 an hour and this bell curve is rapidly shifting higher. That said, you are working in Florida where historical pay for travelers is low (the sun tax), and generally speaking, rehab is about as low as you can go on the travel RN compensation. It is not a well paid specialty.

So the answer is that neither I nor anyone else really knows what you should be making. Too many variables including location, facility, agency, your negotiating skills, your experience, and the demand at the moment you received a quote. The only way to determine what is "fair" is to shop around, just like you do when you make most decisions about financial matters. To do that effectively, you need to be signed up with five agencies all having recruiters you communicate well with. Only then you will know what you are worth in a given market.

I don't know if you are working overtime or would like to, but your overtime rate represents an hourly pay cut. For your first 36 hours you are making around $39 an hour. For overtime, that rate drops to less than $28 an hour! That is pathetic. Sorry to be so cold, but those are just the numbers you provided.