Some Make Less Than Window Washers, Study Finds

You would think that a profession which requires a great deal of specialized training, technical skill, and potentially bears the responsibility for the safe transportation of dozens or even hundreds of people each day would pay pretty well.

You'd think.

Admittedly, for some it does. But a report in California Watch looking at the pay scale for First Officers on regional airlines operating out of San Francisco indicates that many right-seaters fare less well than window washers or toll takers on the Golden Gate Bridge.

The report finds that a window washer at KSFO earns on average $26.75 per hour. A first officer for Mesaba Airlines ears 75 cents per hour less. and an FO for Mesa Airlines tips the salary scale at $20.50 per hour, less than the $23.81 he or she could earn collecting tolls on the Golden Gate Bridge.

Part of the reason, the report says, is that the number of regional airlines has grown from five to 18 over the past 10 years, and where in 2000 there were 5,090 pilots employed by those five regionals, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics now says 17,972 pilots fly for the short-haul carriers. Airline consultant Bob Mann told California Watch that that, due to cost cutting and competition, regional airlines are not always "able to compensate somebody at a livable wage."

Put another way, the report says, a fifth-year CHP officer's base pay, before overtime, is $90,185. An Horizon Air (Alaska Airlines) fifth-year first officer takes home $44,500 before taxes, and they are the highest of the airlines cited. Mesa Airlines, flying as US Airways Express, compensates their first officers $30,500 after five years of service.

Which leads to the not-entirely-rhetorical question, is it any wonder that the number of pilot's licenses issued, private, commercial, and ATP, have declined dramatically since 2011?

FMI: www.bts.gov, http://californiawatch.org