The Transportation Security Administration recently announced that they are planning to hire 768 full-time screeners and assign them in airports by mid-June as a solution to end the long security lines since airports have high volume of passengers.
The inconvenience is caused by the decrease of numbers of the TSA officers and the increase in the number of fliers. In 2013, there were 47,000 officers to screen 643 million passengers but this year, there are only 42,525 screeners to clear over 740 million passengers. The number of TSA officers dropped by 10% while there is a 15% increase in the number of fliers.
With that, the agency will spend #8 million to hire more officers and will be spending about $26 million to increase part-time and overtime hours.
Duties of the transportation security officer include performing searches on people and bags, operating screening technology, and surveilling terminal entrances and exits. But one challenging part of the job is to interact with the public that is why the hires should stay focus because of the "stressful environment" and the possible "disruptive and angry passengers."
Many individuals have expressed their interest for the job found on USAJobs.gov, who will then undergo an interview and should pass the background check. The applicant should be a U.S. citizen, should have a high school diploma or equivalent or have at least one year of applicable security work experience. Salary is $25,000 to $30,000 a year.
"If we make a mistake because we are worried about that long line, I wouldn't want to be the one to explain to a family member that I made that mistake," said Hydrick Thomas, a TSA worker at New York's JFK airport and TSA Council president for the American Federation of Government Employees, according to CNN.
The screeners' jobs is to keep people safe and it is said that the job may also be risky since one TSA officer was killed in 2013 at the Los Angeles International Airport while on duty. But this time, new hires will be prepared for whatever they will encounter through a three-week training program.
Meanwhile, it as recently announced by Sen. Chuck Schumer that 216 agents will join the TSA at Newark Liberty and LaGuardia, JFK airports, NBC News reported.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
