The numbers may show that, despite rises, real wages haven t kept pace with inflation and the high cost of living, as was the case in California. In the 1990s, real wages for nurses actually dropped, because salaries did not keep pace with inflation, said Coffman, who conducted a study of wages. We have to adjust for inflation. We just have to see. Of course, signing is one thing.
Retention is another.
At St. Mark s, several nurses signed a two-year contract and received their signing bonus only to break the contract before it expired, Thompson admits. The nurse loses a portion of the bonus but the hospital loses a hard-won employee. The hard part is retention.