Relevant Work Experience2+ to 5 YearsSalary35,000.00 - 46,000.00 USD /year----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ok 35k a year sounds great right? WRONG!
$8 an hour x 12 hours a day X 7 days a week X 52 weeks a year = $34,994 a year.
If I search other cities I can't even find a job opening or lvn/lpn. It is extremely hard to land a job as a LPN/LVN. You'll make far more as a construction worker, plumber, lawn mower, etc...
I've been working full time at my current job for 2 years now and I make $27/hr with full benefit for myself/my child. i guess it really depends on the area you live in cuz i really can't imagine making $15-$18/hr for doing what i do. I live in CA and cost of living is just insane.
:banghead:Are you kidding me? Really?? Really!! Who do you know who works 12 hr. shifts, 7 days a week? That's 84 hrs. a week, which means that 44 of those hours would be paid at time and a half (by law, over 40 hrs. is overtime). Your math is REALLY screwed up. $35,000 a year looks like this: $35,000 divided by 52 (weeks in a year) = $673.08 per week, divide THAT by 40 hours in a work week = $16.83 per hour. Come on, any kid in junior high knows this, puh-leeeeze!
around here (upstate ny) most of the ltc facilities pay new lpns between 13-15 an hour depending on what shift you work. The only ones making over 20 per hour work for agencies or do travel nursing. Each type of position has its benefits.
Your math is wrong btw. Well the way you figured the shifts are wrong. If you worked 8 hour shifts 5 days a week and were paid 16.80 and hour you'd make 35000. Why in the world would you work 12 hour shifts 7 days a week?
Well wages definitely depend on your location and the type of environment in which you work... But I mean you didn't go into nursing to get rich did you?!? Because that just isn't smart not going to happen unless you get a lot more education and a great deal luck, maybe... But seriously having a hard time finding a job try ltc and corrections jobs, they tend to pay the best and are more willing to train new nurses. I have made anywhere from 16-22.80 (with very little experience passed NCLEX March of this yr)which is pretty good for kansas city where the cost of living is pretty low.
I average 600 a week I NEVER work 40 hours.. I wouldnt get out of bed for under 17. Everyone says they cant find a job...beat the foot path, go in and apply. LTC will always need nurses, even if its not at that minute, the turn over is extremely high. Call an agency, they will hire you.
i think the bottom line here is ...... if you got into nursing to get rich, you won't. you should be getting into nursing to be doing something you love and enjoy doing .... sure, some places may pay more, but just like any job .... if you are taking it soley for the money, you will only be miserable -- and in nursing .... well, i'd hate to think you'd be taking out your unhappiness of the job on your residents.
yeah It seems like another poster has said, you prob arent getting $8 an hour- the nurse that is making 35K a year is prob not working that many hours, therefor the amount paid per hour is higher than that you have come up with. I cant say that some LPNs dont make close to that, although i cant imagine someone who went to school making the same amount as a fast food worker(although there is nothin wrong with that either, so dont take offense!). It varies on cost of living and where you are and the setting you are working in. Have you tried LTC?or if you have experience, a position for visiting nurses? They make more than a nurse (usually)in a doctors office. Keep looking and eventually youll find something that you like, but my advise, even if you are making a little less and you find a job that you really would like to do- then take it. Everyone needs money to live but I think its worth the compromise! And apparently alot of other nurses do to because I am having a HARD time finding a dr office/outpatient position where I live!
Oh and for the other posters that are saying they dont know any new grads that cant find a job- that may be true for where you are, but where I am from, I am having a hard time- Granted I am not applying to all LTC and would really like to start off in a doctors office(no matter what the pay is!) but I have put in quite a few applications for LTC and havent gotten any response or requests for interviews even after I call them. If you live near me and have any ideas of where there are jobs PLEASE LET ME KNOW! Im getting desperate lol (Im in massachusetts)
I want to let everyone know that some of the U.S. NCLEX licensed LPN's in the U.S. Territory of the Northern Mariana Islands, about 50 miles north of Guam do make as low as $5.00 an hour. The reason that clinics can pay that low is that up until November 28th, 2009, the Island controlled its own immigration and could recuit foreign workers without a U.S. visa. There is a LPN school on the island where foreign graduates are allowed to take the NCLEX, but they are not even allowed to work at local clinics until they have 2 years experience, and many are willing to volunteer for free at clinics to gain experience. The situation should get better because of the Department of Homeland Security recently took over immigration matters, but it will still take a while for salaries to reach anywhere near the 16-20/hr that are found on the mainland.
I am not laughing at you but I do think you have your math wrong.
ReemBZN
9 Posts
I've been working full time at my current job for 2 years now and I make $27/hr with full benefit for myself/my child. i guess it really depends on the area you live in cuz i really can't imagine making $15-$18/hr for doing what i do. I live in CA and cost of living is just insane.