Travel nursing has been around forever, but the recent pandemic changed the entire landscape. Is this a good thing, and is it sustainable? What does it mean for your paycheck?
Here are Five Fast Facts:
- 📈 Incredible growth! Travel nurses made up only 3-4% of pre-pandemic nursing staff. Now it’s more like 8-10%.
- 💰 Incredible pay is driving growth in travel nursing! Compared to pre-pandemic rates, travel nurses can make 3-4 times what a staff nurse makes. We’re talking up to $8,000 per week…or more! Yep, that’ll do it.
- 🧾 Enter the government! Anytime big money is involved, the government gets involved. Over 200 Congressmen recently requested the White House investigate nursing for price gouging. Numerous states are jumping on to examine ways to cap travel nurse pay.
- 👩⚕️ Nurses fight back! In response, advocates point out that nurses are overworked, burned out, and carrying huge patient loads. Not to mention that travel nurses are away from their families for long periods of time, so the extra money is deserved. Nurses and nursing advocates counter-punched by suggesting that pay for hospital CEOs should be capped before nurse’s get their pay cut.
- ⚖️ Is it gouging or simple supply and demand? So far, efforts to cap travel nurse pay have failed. This is probably because simple supply and demand is driving pay rates up. It’s hard to prove otherwise and artificially capping nurse pay carries its own risks, including triggering an even greater shortage of nurses than we have now.
🔥Bottom line: If you’re a nurse and willing to accept the rigors of traveling, this gig can be very beneficial to your bottom line. For the rest of society, yeah, it may drive health care costs up a bit…but some investments are certainly worth it.
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