Want to earn $120,000? Become a Newport, Calif., lifeguard.
By Cindy Perman, CNBC.com Staff Writer
You might think that only Pamela Anderson made six figures from being a lifeguard but here’s a surf alert that’s sure to ripple your tide: Full-time lifeguards in Newport Beach, Calif., make more than $120,000 a year!
The city’s budget report showed the highest-paid lifeguard, the battalion chief, had a base salary of $119,000. When you factor in overtime, standby pay and other perks, he made $211,000! The No. 2 made a total of $203,000.
Plus, KTLA reports, they also got an annual allowance of $400 for “sun protection.”
It’s a far cry from what lifeguards typically make. One colleague here at CNBC.com said she used to make $9 an hour as a lifeguard, and another said she made NOTHING.
Now, these guys aren’t the guys who sit on the towers, waiting for the call of duty to resuscitate a beach blond. Those guys are part-timers who make about $16 to $22, with no benefits. This six-figure brigade of full-timers is the guys who oversee the whole babewatch.
And just when you thought lifeguarding was a summer job, check this out: These real-life David Hasselhoffs are retiring from these jobs with 90 percent of their pay, racking up a Hoff-load in pension costs for the city!
Of course, there are groups protesting this outrageous beach scandal but, being California, the protests look like a TV show from the 1970s, complete with wacka-wacka disco soundtrack:
