travel job offer...is pay too low?

[klang]

I was just offered a travel position in MD and the pay seems really low. This would be my first travel job, and unfortunately my recruiter did not discuss the pay with me prior to submitting my profile for the job, I just assumed it was comparable to the other positions she was submitting me for. I plan to have them find housing for me, so would not take the stipend (which is $2200) My take home pay after accounting for taxes would be $535/weekly, which is $11.50 hourly. Per diem is $245/week. Is this as ridiculous as I think it is? I used Pantravelers calculator and this is significantly less than what I make now as a staff nurse. I talked to several other travelers who said this is definitely low.

Also, I told the interviewer that I would give my recruiter a definite answer on Monday (interview was Thurs) and he said that was fine. Now the recruiter is calling me nonstop saying that I have to give an answer NOW and I'm getting really annoyed. The recruiter also said that I cannot see the contract unless I am definitely going to accept the position, and if she sends me a copy of the contract "the expectation" is that I will sign it. I told her I thought the pay seemed really low and wanted to get feedback from other people. She said that she would get me a higher rate for my next assignment, and a completion bonus, but this is what I should expect for my first assignment. I called a different agency and they gave me a much higher quote than this one, but I don't know who I can trust. I feel very uncomfortable with this whole situation. Is this really weird or am I overreacting?

[NedRN]

It is difficult to answer without really knowing what you are making. Quoting take home pay in dollars per hour is meaningless without knowing the base numbers. I admit it does seem low. Housing is worth about $7 an hour, and I can only guess your pretax pay at about $16 an hour. Yes, $23 an hour is really low, even if you missed $300 a week per diem in your quote (taxable along with your housing of course).

[Argo]

I was thinking that housing at 2200/month would be like roughly $15/hr based on a 36 hour work week by 4 weeks so $2200/144hrs? That takes it up a bit more....