Lifeguard Shortage Looms Over LA County's Pools

Competition with big box retailers for personnel, low pay and weeks of training has young people turning away from one of the most iconic summer jobs — lifeguarding.

Some Los Angeles County pools may operate at limited capacity due to the lifeguard shortage.

A motion by Los Angeles County Supervisors Janice Hahn and Holly Mitchell details the hiring difficulty experienced by the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation, which needs lifeguards to staff its six year-round aquatic centers, 25 seasonal swimming pools, 14 lakes, and 23 splash pads.

“Higher or equal pay rates in other fields and that require less training are more appealing to potential candidates,” the motion says. “DPR’s budget curtailment in aquatics released lifeguards not involved as Disaster Service Workers; as a result, many did not come back as lifeguards post-pandemic.”

The motion calls for a report on how best to streamline the application and training process which can take “an estimated 16 to 31 weeks start to finish … the lengthiest hiring process for lifeguards than any other jurisdiction in Los Angeles County.”

“There’s definitely a lifeguard shortage, I hear it all the time,” said Darrell Walker, recreation superintendent for the city of Pasadena. “If I’m paying a lifeguard $19 an hour and they can go over and get $19 an hour at Target and they don’t have to do all the training, why would they not go over there?”

Walker's department will operate three and a half pools this summer with 40 lifeguards, who start off making the minimum wage of $16.93 an hour.

“We are OK, but we are trying to get lifeguards a raise. They come to Pasadena because we have an excellent training program. That’s the key. You have to have a junior lifeguard program, and you have to go out and recruit,” he said.

Last year, the city of Carlsbad struggled to keep its pools open due to too few lifeguards. In response, the city co-sponsored a bill with Assemblymember Tasha Boerner Horvath that allows a local government that is certified by the United States Lifesaving Association to hire ocean lifeguards during staffing shortages for up to 12 months.

Governor Newsom signed the bill into law in September. Previously, California did not allow an open-water lifeguard to take a job at a pool because they require different certifications.

Ocean lifeguards are certified by the United States Lifesaving Association, undergo highly rigorous training and are generally better paid than their pool counterparts.

So, did ocean lifeguards head inland?

“It didn’t really affect us,” said Pono Barnes, captain ocean lifeguard with the Los Angeles County Fire Department. It’s the largest lifeguard agency in the U.S., and guards 72 miles of coastline.

“We maintain a list of about 650 current ocean lifeguards. It’s a different type of lifeguarding at the beach than at a pool. And I think the environment and the dynamic nature of the beach keeps people coming back here,” Barnes said.