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Hourly wage as experienced MTs at $.08/65 CPL - Inquiring mind

Posted: Jun 18, 2012

I'm just trying to figure out what the hourly wage might be for an "experienced" MT if they were to start making $.08 per 65 cpl if they had a pretty good account and could type 75 words per minute.....and just an estimate would be appreciated...Thank you for your input.

no way to know this - mt

[ In Reply To ..]
There are too many variables, your typing speed, your knowledge base, your account specs, your platform, your dictators.

Basically agree; the question is flawed. Why would an - experienced MT with expander type 75 WPM? SM

[ In Reply To ..]
Yet is seems from many posts here that some still do. What other skills might some have and others not? Speed reading, for instance. Genuine facility with grammar and punctuation. Someone recently posted about using a grammar check program, something people who do this type of work should have no need of.

Of the many variables, the biggest are in us--the MTs and MEs. If we're trying to set an hourly wage, do we base it on a low average skill level and drop pay for more skilled people to that? Or do employers overpay the slower people to please the faster (not going to happen)?

Since most of us live in or near a metropolitan area and could be earning $35K a year at a fairly basic clerical job, no special skills such as ours needed, I'd say matching that--at a minimum!--plus incentive pay would provide a workable number in these exploitative days.

That'd be around $17-18/hour base pay, plus incentive for those willing to produce more to maintain a higher standard of living.

or if you want convoluted math - mt

[ In Reply To ..]
avg 10 words/line so at 75 wpm you'd do 7.5 lines a minute or $0.60 a minute x 45 minutes $27.00.

I refer you back to the variables. Most highly skilled MTs transcribe at 100+ wpm or higher, have a readily accessible fund of knowledge, extensive shortcut dictionaries, etc. So by "faulty/convoluted" math, we should be making $40+ an hour. Many don't. Again, I refer you back to the variables.

A better way to look at it is to realize 100 lines per hour is $8.00 and follow that. A good target to shoot for is transcribing > 200 lph. At 8 cpl, that gets you $16/hr. A good MT with all things aligned should be able to do 300-400 lph.

Per per hour vs production pay - Lisa

[ In Reply To ..]
From my experience I would definitely go with the buy the hour pay. You never know what the workload might be the other way. Our company is having that problem.

Lisa - Old Pro

[ In Reply To ..]
I would never go with by the hour pay. I was making at the lowest $34/hour. Who is going to pay that by the hour?

Same here. Far lower than that these days, but I'll never - see my earnings paid per hour. NM

[ In Reply To ..]
x

OldMT - OldMT

[ In Reply To ..]
Liar, liar, pants on fire! You MTs lie so much it is not funny. $30+ an hour. Oh, sure, then you woke up!

I did it one day - for an MTSO

[ In Reply To ..]
In 2010, on Thanksgiving Day I worked and made $30 an hour. I made about $300 that day. I was working on an account that paid by the gross line with a differential for the holiday doing ER reports (busy as heck that day) for just one dictator that was easy to understand, a fast talker, and used numbered lists for at least 3 or 4 subheadings in every report (numbered lists are a gold mine when paid by the gross line). Never have come close since, though. That account is long gone. It was great, though.

I did it one day -- - oldMT

[ In Reply To ..]
That is hard to believe, but you may be telling the truth. But those days are LONG gone and people who say they are making $30 + an hour now are simpling lyng out of their you know what!

Re: Liar comment - Old Pro

[ In Reply To ..]
Please don't judge others by your standards and abilities. Many of us are capable of routinely earning $30 an hour.

By the hour and not cpl - JW

[ In Reply To ..]
I am paid by the hour but only when I am in a file. Lately the server keeps glitching out and yesterday there was a half an hour that I had to make up. I have to work at least 6 hours per day. They are getting more bandwidth so hopefully this problem will be solved. I like to be able to plan what time I will get off work and it's hard with all the server problems. I keep my breaks to a minimum too. I like the hourly pay over the cpl. Also if my account goes dry for a while, they have other work on other accounts and I get to do something different.

Inquiring mind - Old Pro

[ In Reply To ..]
I am afraid it is not possible to give an accurate answer based on information given. Like they used to say in algebra, there are too many unknowns to solve the equation.

Making some assumptions I'd guess $12-$16 an hour - Daisy

[ In Reply To ..]
Last time I tested for a non-medical transcription job in the "real world" I got 75 wpm. I typically type about 200 lph counting only the time my fingers are on the keyboard. BUT, if you do the average for all time that I spend working including getting up for a drink, bathroom breaks, etc. then my average is 150 lph. Important if you are comparing an hourly job to transcription. In other words, if you have an 8 hour transcription shift you can't spent the whole 8 hours typing unless you have a bladder of steel and don't need to break for food, LOL!

If you have super laser focus, get a routine account that you can make a lot of expanders for, etc. then you can get up above the 200 lph but that will probably take time.

Daisy, you enter terms in your expander that can be - used for any account. With expander use,

[ In Reply To ..]
on my main account, transcription and editing, I average about 300 lph with bath and chat breaks, answering the phone, etc. But the focus is mostly laser.

pay - depends

[ In Reply To ..]
Do you actually have an account that you will have dependable work load? If you have no work, which most companies are experiencing right now, there is NO pay. figure that in your equation too.

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