Nursing Assistant Salary
As with all occupations, several factors can influence your nursing assistant salary: Education and certification, geography and experience are the most common influences. Within the geographical aspect, you must consider the cost of living for that area, the demand for the occupation and the type of facility in which you work in that area. All have impact on nursing assistant salary figures.
Basic Salary Data
According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the national average wage for this occupation in 2008 was $11.46 per hour. However, that average encompasses all education levels, experience levels, work environments and zip codes in the nation. Starting salaries for people just entering the field after finishing career training can find starting salaries much lower.
On the other hand, with additional education in the field and after gaining experience, nursing assistant salary figures tend to jump upward reasonably quickly.
The top five industries that employed the highest number of nursing assistants included:
Employment Services, paying hourly wages averaging $12.10 per hour. General Medical and Surgical Hospitals, paying an average of $12.05 per hour. Nursing Care Facilities, paying on average $11.13 per hour. Community Geriatric Care Facilities, reporting average wages of $10.91 per hour. Home Health Care Services, paying $10.58 per hour. It should be noted that certification is required for working in nursing care facilities according to federal guidelines. States may institute other employment requirements that supplement federal guidelines in any position. Be sure to check your state’s guidelines.
As a sub-specialty in this field, psychiatric aides must receive specialized training, and average wages reflect the expertise. On average, the hourly wages for a psychiatric aide in 2008 reached $12.77. The top five industries for psychiatric aides paid wages ranging from $9.89 per hour in mental health and substance abuse facilities to $13.43 per hour in psychiatric and substance abuse hospitals.
To qualify for any nursing aid position, you must undertake a training course, whether it’s hands-on training with your employer, online courses included in a prescribed syllabus from a top online university or even local vocational training through a distance education option through a community college. The more education and training and additional certifications you receive, the higher you lift your income potential.
Nursing Assistant Salary
Public funds support public facilities, and often working in tax-supported employment positions pay less than private-sector positions. Unfortunately, the nursing assistant salary figures reflect that immutable trend.
For instance, psychiatric aides working in a state facility may earn more per hour than a non-certified aide in a hospital, but as a rule, the private-facility psychiatric aide earns more than the public-facility aide. The lowest 10 percent of entry-level ‘Psy-Aides’ earned only $8.35 or less per hour in 2008 in public facilities while those new employees in the private sector earned above $9.00 per hour on average. The difference per hour is slight, but the annual nursing assistant salary totals differed a fair amount-$17,368 per year in publicly supported facilities versus $18,720 starting annual salary in the private sector.
The experience gained in the public facilities, however, often offset immediate financial disadvantages, and personnel who changed jobs after gaining that experience were often paid slightly higher than others without that entry on a resume.
Consider both short-term and long-term advantages and disadvantages beyond the immediate when considering a nursing assistant salary offer.
