High turnover for baggage screeners.

• Position: SECURITY BEAT: Homeland Defense Briefs

THE TRANSPORTATION SECURITY Administration is searching for a few good men and women to work as baggage screeners at airports. The often backbreaking work, however, offers a small starting salary, a glacially slow hiring process and little time for training because of staff shortages.

Cathleen Berrick, director of homeland security and justice issues at the Government Accountability Office, said that TSA has made improvements, but is still facing difficulty hiring and keeping personnel.

Transportation security officer salaries start at $28,000 per year, which is unchanged since 2002. A 3 percent annual raise is all employees can expect, she told the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

The annual attrition rate is 23 percent for full-time screeners and 50 percent for part-timers. TSA plans call for 20 percent of the workforce to be part-timers, but the agency has had a difficult time hiring and retaining them at wages of $10 to $12 an hour with no benefits, she said. The officers are also being called to do administrative...