{"id":3603,"date":"2024-05-25T11:46:12","date_gmt":"2024-05-25T11:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/25\/palm-beach-housekeepers-are-making-150000-a-year-due-to-massive-demand-from-the-wealthy\/"},"modified":"2024-05-25T11:46:12","modified_gmt":"2024-05-25T11:46:12","slug":"palm-beach-housekeepers-are-making-150000-a-year-due-to-massive-demand-from-the-wealthy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/25\/palm-beach-housekeepers-are-making-150000-a-year-due-to-massive-demand-from-the-wealthy\/","title":{"rendered":"Palm Beach housekeepers are making $150,000 a year due to massive demand from the wealthy"},"content":{"rendered":"

A version of this article first appeared in CNBC\u2019s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high net worth investor and consumer. <\/em>Sign up<\/em> to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n

Housekeepers in Palm Beach and South Florida are cleaning up, with salaries often topping $150,000 and bidding wars between mansion owners becoming common, according to staffing companies.<\/p>\n

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The mass wealth migration to Florida from New York and other high-tax states has created record demand for household staff in elite Florida enclaves \u2014 especially Palm Beach. Demand for butlers (now called \u201chospitality managers\u201d or \u201cestate managers\u201d) as well as nannies, chefs, drivers and personal security has surged, according to staffing agencies.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the shortage of housekeepers, however, that has created the biggest mess for wealthy homeowners. Many of the wealthy emigres to Florida bought big homes and now need people to clean them. Hotels, resorts and businesses are also vying for cleaning staff. The result: Typical pay for housekeepers has rocketed from about $25 an hour in 2020 to $45 or $50 an hour today, according to some agencies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been placing staff for 30 years, and I\u2019ve never seen anything like this,\u201d said April Berube, founder of The Wellington Agency, which places household staff in Palm Beach, Miami, New York and other locations. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen such a boom from people relocating, especially Palm Beach and Miami.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Palm Beach, housekeepers with experience in wealthy homes are typically making between $120,000 and $150,000 a year, along with 401(k) plans, health care and benefits, including overtime.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor housekeepers it\u2019s wonderful,\u201d Berube said. \u201cFor us it\u2019s extremely difficult. It\u2019s a severe shortage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Melissa Psitos, founder of Lily Pond Services, said she recently had a Florida client hoping to hire a housekeeper for $75,000 a year. They ended up paying $110,000, which was reasonable for the market. Executive housekeepers, who often help direct a staff of other housekeepers and laundresses, can make even more. Psitos said she knows one head housekeeper in Palm Beach who makes $250,000 a year, including overtime, and travels with the family to their various homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is just not enough supply,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Bidding wars between wealthy homeowners have become common. Staffing agencies are posting \u201cHelp Wanted\u201d ads all over the web and throughout West Palm Beach. Clients are growing frustrated.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt first they\u2019re in shock, and they say, \u2018No way I\u2019m paying that,\u2019\u201d Berube said. \u201cIt\u2019s even uncomfortable for me to give them the numbers. But when they try to hire someone for less, with less experience, they almost always come back to us and say, \u2018I learned my lesson. We are willing to pay for the experience.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Berube said the housekeepers for the wealthy need highly specific skills \u2014 from how to move quietly and unnoticed throughout the house, to how to carefully clean antiques, flatware and fine art and how to properly wash and press fine linens.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are specific tools and skills you need to work in fine homes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Berube said with so few qualified candidates, she\u2019s thinking of launching a school to teach high-end housekeeping skills and generate more housekeepers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love to do it, but I don\u2019t have the time, since we\u2019re busy trying to find staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sign up to receive future editions of CNBC\u2019s <\/em>Inside Wealth<\/em> newsletter with Robert Frank.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A version of this article first appeared in CNBC\u2019s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high net worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox. Housekeepers in Palm Beach and South Florida are cleaning up, with salaries often topping $150,000 and bidding wars between mansion owners <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3604,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3603","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}