Starting pay rates: Then & now

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Ok, so ive been reading about wage rates for new grad nurses on AN. From what ive seen, it looks like LTC pay rates have gone DOWN, or remained the same since '08. Do you find this to be true? I was just offered a part time job at a (easy, well-staffed) LTC facility in OH paying $18/hr. There are other places that start out around 19-20.5, but theyre more of a SNF+LTC pt load. Should I take this job eventhough it wont pay my bills?

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.

Yeah, it is sad. Gas, car insurance, health insurance (my copays alone are $35-45!!), food, and some of us have student loan payments. .... its not enough. Hope things get better.

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

Even in the deep south I would say that is too low for LTC. In Alabama (which has a lower cost of of living and thus lower wages than many other states), I started out at $25/hr as a new grad. Now in FL, where nsg schools are on every corner (!!!), wage is $21.25 for the place I've just started at, but supposedly there will be a bump in pay each year (don't know how much).

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$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.

In PDN I was making $18/hr and I had wondered if they would up the wages if minimum wage was bumped up... Probably not, though!!!!

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PDN??

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Developmental Disorders.

I believe that stands for "private duty nursing."

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When I started as in an internship ship in 2012 our starting pay was 22.50 an hour.

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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.

I agree. It is better to have you foot in and gain experience with a low income, and move on up....Sometimes experience is more important, especially as it's so hard to get in as an RN, with an ADN. Id take that any day, rather than waiting a year to get a job. What you want now is to get your feet wet

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When I started as in an internship ship in 2012 our starting pay was 22.50 an hour.

What state?

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Yeah, it is sad. Gas, car insurance, health insurance (my copays alone are $35-45!!), food, and some of us have student loan payments. .... its not enough. Hope things get better.

Things WILL get better my dear. Just stay focused on the bigger picture. We all have to start off somewhere. If you have to relocate to get more money, do that. Dont be discouraged and think it will always be like that. You can use your story to motivate other new grads and individuals who are interested in nursing. The things we want the most and will cherish the most never come easy. so dont be discouraged

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Specializes in Emergency and Critical Care.

Depending on the type of nursing you do, the area of the country, LTC, acute care, specialty nursing, experience, degree, the pay Is all over the place. After I completed my MSN in nursing education I transitioned from the clinical side to a community college where I took about a $10/hr cut in pay. The powers that be want quality education but are not willing to pay for it anymore than they are willing to pay for quality patient care. My fear that with ACA it will only get worse.

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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...

I totally agree. My coworkers and I had this same conversation. I've had to pay for an education to be able to make the wages I make now. Such is life! And boom just like that, overnight someone without the drive or education somehow feels entitled to make $15/hr. Blasphemy!!!!

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I'm somehow always surprised when RN's think they should be making a lot more than LPN's in LTC/SNF. They don't pay nurses based on which license they hold, at least not in KC, rather the going rate based on experience. Floor RN's in these facilities are doing the same job as the LPN's, why would they get twice the pay?

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