Travel nurses took high-paying jobs during Covid. But then their pay was slashed, sometimes in half.
As Covid's travel nursing boom began to wane, nurses attracted by talk of high wages found themselves far from home with their pay cut at renewal time.
In early 2022, Jordyn Bashford thought things were as good as they could be for a nurse amid the Covid pandemic.
A few months earlier, she had signed an agreement with a travel nurse agency called Aya Healthcare and left Canada to work at a hospital in Vancouver, Washington.
Before the end of her first shift at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center, she said she realized other travel nurses there were earning even more than she was and asked for more money. Aya quickly amended her agreement and raised her hourly pay from $57 to $96.
In January, her rate increased again to $105 as part of a new agreement. She thought that the high pay — and a generous living stipend of nearly $1,300 per month — meant she and her fiancé could finally make plans to buy a house.
But two months later, when her assignment was renewed, Aya slashed her hourly pay back down to $56, and then cut it still more to $43.80 — less than her initial rate.
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