I was having a conversation with my sister-n-law who graduated in May 2004 from UMC. She told me that she talked to some of her friends who graduated this year and they were getting jobs that only started you off with 16.50! I asked her shouldn't it be around 19.00? She said that is with shift differential included and that 16.50 is the base. This is the same woman who told my husband when she graduated that she started off with 19.00 an hour back in 2004 (and she works in a renal clinic, i.e. no overnights).
Is it just me or is this somewhat low for the Jackson Metro Area? I think my cousin, who just graduated as a Respiratory Therapist will start off with somewhere around that. Are the salaries that much similar. I mean that is only a 2 year degree. I have another friend who knows someone making 20.00 an hour as a Respiratory Therapist, which she's probably not a new grad though.
Does anyone know if this is the norm? (16.50 an hour for a new RN grad in Jackson Metro area)
I graduated from HCC as an LPN in March 2006 work for the South's premiere lifetime retirement community. Starting salary for 3p-11p was $18.00, including shift differiental. Good luck in finding your niche'.
This wage seems a bit low to me as well. The new grads here in Indy range from $19.00- $22.00/hr and of course taking the shift diff into consideration as well as call. The cost of living is taken into consideration within the city and all area hospitals compete with one another. Congrats to you, light at the end....
Wow, that's really not a lot to start off...especially for all that hard work we've all done. I live in southern MS and have worked at Wal-Mart for almost 5 years while I was in college. After the hurricane, even Wal-Mart employees are now making 9 + an hour. Hmm...I would think LPNs and RNs would be bumped up a little. Maybe I just need to move to a new state. lol
The Jackson area hospitals started paying $18.50 base in December 2006. So it has gone up a little. UMC pays $19.00 base if you did your externship there.
That is what it is around here as well. 16.50 seems too low IMO.
Some of the higher salaries that I have noticed, are in high-cost, larger cities, but sometimes in smaller areas, b/c of the critical shortage, they pay more.
Here, where the population in most towns are less than 3,000 residents for EACH town, RN's, start off at $52K a year...base.
Go to the next major city over (3 hours away), and it drops down to $19.50 an hour...b/c they have 10 nursing schools.
DTC
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I graduated from HCC as an LPN in March 2006 work for the South's premiere lifetime retirement community. Starting salary for 3p-11p was $18.00, including shift differiental. Good luck in finding your niche'.