Healthcare Jobs: Earnings Keep Going Up For Nurses
The cost of healthcare is undoubtedly going up. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, consumer spending on health care “health care has gradually risen from about 5.3 percent to about 5.9 percent since 1997.” Demand and inflation has been causing the costs to go up sky high. And with the increase in costs come the rise of services associated with it, such as the cost of paying the salary of a nurse for his or her skill set. Hence, the nurse average salary does not simply baloon because there is a lack of nurses to fill the demand. Instead, there is a shortage of nurses because consumers, of all ages, are demanding more and more health care than ever before. Makes sense since we’re all living longer, we want to live healthier and actively.
In terms of how much nurses get paid, the national US average salary for nurses in 2008 was $31.31 per hour. That’s fantastic since the average US wage index is $41,334.97. Meaning that the average nurse do better in pay than the average American employee. The top earning nurses, by the way, made at least $44.35 per hour in 2008. The minimum salary range for nurses was around $20.87 per hour ($43,410 a year). Still above the average US wage index.
Nurses don’t just work in hospitals. But hospitals are the most common places where nurses work. For those who did work in hospitals for the year 2008, the average pay was $31.97 per hour. Nurses also work in Physicians Offices where they made an average of $31.28 an hour. Other places where they work include Home Health Care Services where the average salary of a nurse was $29.56 per hour. Two other places include Nursing Care Facilities ($28.06/hr or $58,360/year) and Nursing Agencies ($33.23/hr).
The highest paying states include California where the average salary of a nurse was $39.92 per hour ($83,040 a year). Within California, nurses who work in the San Jose - Sunnyvale areas had the highest pay average with $50.19 per hour ($104,400 per year). In fact, the highest paying metro areas are in California, namely San Francisco - Redwood City where they made $46.49 per hour ($96,700 per year), Oakland - Fremont ($46.23 per hour), Visalia - Porterville ($49.84 an hour), and Napa Valley ($42.77 per hour or $88,970 per year).
Data source for the above is BLS.gov.
Now, to become a nurse requires completion of a college program. A bachelor’s degree is 4 years long and is offered in various private and public nursing school college. An associate degree is roughly 2 years that you can get from a junior college. And a diploma program can take from months up to 3 years, usually through a trade school.
Of course, a health career that makes a great alternative to nursing is to become a massage therapist.
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