About what is the average pay for an emt/paramedic that you earn?
Answer:
Where I work (in Alabama) paramedics get paid around 10.00 a hour + overtime, which works out to 30,000-35,000 a year. EMT's get paid 8.00 + overtime. I'd also like to mention that Alabama is well known for paying paramedics poorly. In most states, you tend to make more. In Louisiana, you can find a job as a paramedic making 16-18.00 an hour, + 10,000 signing bonus. In Mississippi, I've heard of paramedics earning up to 20.00 an hour.
The reason this profession pays so poorly: supply and demand, my friend. As long as there are adrenaline junkies that are willing to work for peanuts, then there will be lots of employers paying just that. In the areas where paramedics are in short supply, the pay goes up quite a bit. Also, it would really help if there were a national requirement for an associates degree. If higher education was the standard, then both our pay and our respect from other medical professions would increase.
Hope this helps!
Unfortunately, EMT pay is always low and always will be. It's a factor of Supply and Demand. Being and EMT is a high profile, adreniline filled job. The young men and womend find it to be an easy job to get into and the education requirements are pretty low considering that you can take a short class and become a level 1 and start work immediately and then work up the remaining levels.
As long as it remains exciting (and it will) and the education requirements will remain low (and it will) the pay rates will remain low. This is unfortunate, but it's how the real world works.
You can probably expect the going rates to be about twice that of minimum wage to less than 3 times minimum wage for an experience Paramedic (highest level of EMT).
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