Recruiting candidates to run for the General Assembly didn't come easy this year for House Majority Leader Jerry Keen.

Qualifying runs through the end of this week for the men and women seeking the 236 seats in the General Assembly, but Keen said persuading newbies to sign up was harder than ever.

He said the problem, in part, is simple economics.

Candidates have to raise lots of money to get elected to two-year terms, and lots more to stay elected every two years.

Legislative sessions are getting longer, and they increasingly resemble high-profile food fights as leaders battle over politics and policy.

And the payoff for months away from family and businesses is a $17,000 part-time salary and some nice freebie dinners from friendly lobbyists.

"This is the worst recruiting year ever," said Keen (R-St. Simons Island). "We cannot find anyone who wants the job."

Keen said one Republican he tried to draft recently told him, " 'If you could appoint me, I wouldn't take the job.' "

Lawmakers have griped for years that the low pay and time away from their homes and businesses make them rethink every two years whether they want to serve in the General Assembly.

They often cite such financial and family concerns when they leave.

Besides the $17,000 annual salary that most lawmakers are paid, they get $173 per day for meals and lodging during their 40-day session and when they attend committee meetings. Members of the House and Senate leadership team also get small supplements.

Being a legislator is considered a part-time job, although lawmakers often complain that they spend the equivalent of a 40-hour workweek doing it.

Last year, House Transportation Chairman Vance Smith (R-Pine Mountain) earned the most of any non-leadership lawmaker from salary and per diem, taking in about $38,000, according to state fiscal office records. That's because he and Senate Transportation Chairman Jeff Mullis (R-Chickamauga), who made almost $37,000, spent much of last year traveling the state having meetings to try to develop new ways to pay for roads. Smith received per diem expense money for 121 days last year; Mullis 113, the highest number in each chamber.

The average household income in Georgia from 2004 through 2006 was $46,841, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures.

The National Conference of State Legislatures compares legislatures across the country. It lists Georgia's lawmakers as part-timers working in a state where "the compensation received for their work is quite low and requires them to have other sources of income."

Southern states generally pay lawmakers among the lowest salaries in the country. Those with the highest pay, such as California, Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania, also require lawmakers to work full time or close to full time.

Many states have longer legislative sessions than Georgia. While the General Assembly here generally runs from early January to late March or early April, sessions run year-round in states such as Illinois, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

The final days of the session can run 14-16 hours, including committee meetings, but long days are rare the rest of the year.

When they aren't in session, legislators say they spend a lot of time meeting with constituents and trying to help them with problems such as getting Medicaid for a loved one or getting a local road fixed.

Former state Rep. Tom Bordeaux, a Savannah lawyer who retired from the General Assembly in 2006, called serving in the Legislature "a horrible financial burden."

"It's not your average citizen who can serve in the Legislature," said Bordeaux, who quit after 16 years. "You have to be independently wealthy, a community activist, retired or have a very understanding boss."

During the 2008 session, the General Assembly included 35 lawyers, about a dozen retirees, about a dozen each in real estate and insurance, and more than 40 people who listed their occupation as "businessman," "business owner" or "businesswoman."

Some of them are independently wealthy, so they are not exactly starving by serving in the Legislature.

Bordeaux didn't quit strictly for financial reasons. With young children at home, he said he found himself crying while heading to the airport each time he had to leave for Atlanta.

"Those kids are basically going to grow up without me," Bordeaux said he thought in the months before he retired as a legislator.

Rep. Jill Chambers (R-Atlanta), who manages a wholesale art and mirrors business, said serving has put a strain on her family as well.

"It's definitely something you think about, and your family has to be willing to make that sacrifice with you," she said.

Former state Sen. Wayne Garner, now a Capitol lobbyist, said the debate over legislative pay and time away from families and businesses has been going on for decades.

"You can't make the public understand it," Garner said. "If you want decent people in the Legislature, if I were king, you'd go to four-year terms, you'd pay them $50,000, $60,000, $70,000 a year.

"But I'm not king, and that's never going to happen. So you wind up getting the government you're willing to pay for.

Still, there are some willing to take the plunge.

David Hancock, a Suwanee software company owner, signed up this week to run as a Republican challenger to Rep. Bobby Reese (R-Sugar Hill), but not before he'd thought through the financial implications. He plans to use vacation leave to campaign. And if elected, he said he may spend his legislative pay for an accountant to fill in for him at his company.

"I really want to make a difference," Hancock said. "I told my wife I will see her sometime in July, after the primary."