the pay for nurses

colleen10 · Jan 24, 2003

I am enjoying all this discussion about nurses and teachers. I come from a family of two nurses and 4 teachers.

Here in Pittsburgh new teachers have a couple of years in which they must get their Master's. They also get excellent benefits and retirement packages. Perhaps due to unions. I also commend teachers for all the energy they must put into teaching each of their classes. It is not easy to speak for hours on end and their day by no means ends at 3:00PM when the bell rings.

I do think that nursing and teaching are very similar in that even when you have so many years of experience it doesn't really equal a higher hourly wage. We certainly know that most nurses with 25 years experience make little more than the new grad., if anything more at all. That is similar with teachers in this area too.

For example, if you stay within the same school district you will get a merit increase each year, but say after 25 years you left to go to another school district you might not expect to receive a huge pay increase and would actually probably make a lower salary.

I think that nurses and teachers are similar in that for them to significantly jump up the pay scale they would have to get a higher degree and move into a different type of role such as a manager or superintendent, resectively.

I totally respect the work that teachers do but I do have a hard time feeling sorry for my relatives when I hear them complain about their jobs. They each make very good money for only working 9 months out of a year. They do work over time but just about every professional does.

When I was in tradeshow marketing and HR I made about half of what they all made when they were my age, had to work 40+ hours a week year round and don't have any great benefits like a pension nor early retirement. And just as they don't receive over time I never recieved compensation for all the time I spent away from home sitting in airports or in hotels.

I think teachers should make more money just because of what an important impact they have on society, but to compare them to other professions, I really don't think they have it so bad.

llg, PhD, RN · Jan 24, 2003

Colleen10: Thanks for not flaming me. Sometimes, people are very touchy about this topic and I worried a little bit about putting myself into the discussion. I also think teaching is an important and noble profession and that teachers deserve to be paid well. It's just that I get a little sick and tired of always hearing the words, "poor" and "underpaid" whenever the word "teacher" is mentioned. I also get a little tired of all those TV commercials saying how wonderful teachers are. Some are wonderful (and I think my sister is probably an excellent one), but I know I had many that were not wonderful.

Most of all, I am a little jealous that the community in general jumps all over teachers to praise them, yet gives so little respect to nurses.

My sister and I have always compared compensation packages and she has always come out ahead of me -- in spite of the fact that she only has a Master's Degree (paid for by the tax payers) and I have a PhD (mostly paid for by me.) I am prepared to live with my choices ... but, sometimes the whining gets on my nerves.

llg

vaughanmk · Jan 24, 2003

I'm going to be a new grad this May. The area hospital that I've been looking at start me at $15.00 an hour. And that's with my BSN. I find that to be a waste of my time. Especially since I'm entering a specialty area.

Ortho_RN · Jan 25, 2003

You also need to look at the fact that yes, teachers may get two months off.. But how many of them can afford NOT to work another job.. Most teachers I know end up working some crap job for $6-7/hr because the teacher salary doesn't carry them through the summer...

I think both jobs are equally hard and stressful and deserve to be compensated... Nurses get paid pretty good around here, so I can't argue about that...