Starting pay rates: Then & now

CapeCodMermaid, RN · Mar 7, 2014

My facility is on the northeast coast....we start new RNs at 24-25/hour. My first job (back in the dark ages) paid $8/hr. I thought I had it made when I got hired at the hospital and was making $10.67/hr!

Nola009 · Mar 7, 2014

Oh wow, CapeCodMermaid!!! That $8 probably wouldn't buy lunch at the cafeteria now a days! I know this pay rate is low, even for a new grad. Its better than nothing, but I don't think it will pay the bills either. If they say there's no health insurance, I'm gonna have to pass on this one:/

VANurse2010 · Mar 8, 2014

Are you an LPN, Nola? That seems pretty typical for an LPN.

Nola009 · Mar 8, 2014

Are you an LPN, Nola? That seems pretty typical for an LPN.

No, I'm a new grad, ADN-holding RN.

JennM_RN · Mar 8, 2014

Can you take it until something better comes along? That way you can start working on your skills and get some experience until you have something that pays.

Nola009 · Mar 8, 2014

Can you take it until something better comes along? That way you can start working on your skills and get some experience until you have something that pays.

You are right. I will take it, bc it's a nice facility and I know and get along with a lot of people who work there. I was just, you know, wanting that 'dream job' right out of school.. lol, I (and my classmates) are finding out that's probably not gonna happen. :bag:

JennM_RN · Mar 8, 2014

Trust me, I'm with you. I have had my license for 2 years, but haven't been able to get into a hospital. I'm so disappointed in my expectations, but I'm going to keep working hard until I get where I want. And so will you! Any experience is better than nothing! Good luck!

AngelicDarkness · Mar 8, 2014

I thought they went up? I started at 17, and started at another home within 3 years at 21. I now make 25.

Guttercat, ASN, RN · Mar 8, 2014

$18/hr as a new grad?

I made close to that in one of the two lowest paid states in the nation (for RN's) with two years of acute care experience.

Sounds OK, right? I mean, I had two years of experience and all.

But wait, there's more!

That was 20 years ago. Twenty.

Real wages (not just $$, but in real, current $$ adjusted for inflation and cost of living, have not only stagnated, they're draconian. Let me put it this way: In my state, there is a huge, highly organized and orchestrated push to raise the min wage to $15/hr. It's close to passing.

How does your $18/hr sound now?

I liken this decades-long wage crisis to having one's hair pulled out one hair at a time. It doesn't hurt much, until one day you wake up and find that you are bald.

Nola009 · Mar 8, 2014

$18/hr as a new grad?
I made close to that in one of the two lowest paid states in the nation (for RN's) with two years of acute care experience.
Sounds OK, right? I mean, I had two years of experience and all.
But wait, there's more!
That was 20 years ago. Twenty.
Real wages (not just $$, but in real, current $$ adjusted for inflation and cost of living, have not only stagnated, they're draconian. Let me put it this way: In my state, there is a huge, highly organized and orchestrated push to raise the min wage to $15/hr. It's close to passing.
How does your $18/hr sound now?
I liken this decades-long wage crisis to having one's hair pulled out one hair at a time. It doesn't hurt much, until one day you wake up and find that you are bald.

The highs! The lows! How and why would a burger-flipper vs someone with life-saving skills, education, and licensure get paid nearly the same!? I think the cost of living has gone up, but the powers that be will squeeze whomever they can to ensure THEIR millions arent affected. I have heard $17, 18, 19, 20.55 (and the pt load is just too much at that place). Gotta at least attempt to make a living. What else can I do...

LTCNS, LPN · Mar 10, 2014

I'm a LPN with 18 years experience as a nurse. My first job, fresh out of nursing school in 1996 paid $9.75/hr. Within two weeks I switched to nocs and was bumped up to $11.75/hr. with the differential and thought I was really raking it in. Now, 20 years later, I'm making $20/hr. as a MDS Nurse. Cost of living has sky rocketed, even here in MS., but pay rates remain stagnant. As a LPN MDS Nurse with 15 years experience, I should be making $23-$25/hr. In fact, I know a LPN MDS Nurse who makes very close to $30/hr. locally.

I was shocked to learn a fellow RN MDS Nurse is only making $26/hr. with experience, and hospitals are not any better. RNs here in MS. don't make much more than LPNs, unless they work in LTC, where they start at around $25/hr. It's pretty dang sad.