New Government Temp Contracts Cut Pay An Average of 30%

If you even sometimes place temps with government agencies, you’ll want to keep an eye on what New York State is doing. It’s cutting temp pay across the board; in some cases, the cuts are as high as 42%.

New contracts the state is signing with staffing agencies supplying doctors, nurses, hearing transcribers, interpreters, custodians, clerks, and others average 30% less than what the state had been paying its previous vendor.

The Times-Union, a daily newspaper in the state’s capitol in Albany, reports that the new contracts are estimated to save the state $12 million annually. The paper didn’t say why the bids came in so much lower than in the last round a few years ago. However, one agency owner, who had been providing nurses to the state, suggested that regional wage differences were not being considered, nor was there any bid credit given for workers experienced and trained in working for the state.

“They don’t take into consideration where these agencies are, or (workers’) reputations or their credentials,” said Maisie Hillenbrandt, area director of Nursefinders. The agency was a provider until it lost the contract to a lower bidder.

The state could offer no estimate of how many temps it employed. The Civil Service Employees Association estimated the number to be in the thousands, based on annual payment by the state for all staffing agencies of about $62 million.