TSA Offers Bonus to Airport Security

Federal airport security workers will be offered up to $1,000 to stay on the job amid staggering turnover rates and an upcoming busy travel season.

USA Today reports the Transportation Security Administration is offering $500 to screeners to work through the summer and another $500 if they work at airports lacking enough personnel.

Associate TSA administrator Gale Rossides said the money isn’t a huge amount but shows the agency wants to invest in the workforce.

Screeners make between $23,505 and $44,580 annually.

But the attrition rate has jumped from 15 percent in 2003 to 24.5 percent, a turnover that the Los Angeles International Airport has warned would lead to significant security concerns when the summer travel boom begins.

Still turnover is more than four times lower than pre-2003, when private companies were handling airport security with more than 100 percent attrition rates for screeners.

The extra money won’t necessarily make a difference on the current rate.

One Pittsburgh International Airport screener called the $500 a joke.

A.J. Castilla said he may use the $500 for a weekend off to de-stress from work.