Compensating Wage Differentials and AIDS Risk

We examine the effect of HIV/AIDS infection risks on the earnings of registered nurses (RNs) and other health care workers by combining data on metropolitan statistical area (MSA) AIDS prevalence rates with annual 1987 --2001 Current Population Survey (CPS) and quadrennial 1988 --2000 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses (SRN) data. Holding constant wages of control groups that are likely not exposed to AIDS risks and group-specific MSA fixed effects, a 10 percent increase in the AIDS rate raises RN earnings by about 0.8 percent in post-1992 samples, when AIDS rates were falling but a more comprehensive categorization of AIDS was used by the CDC. AIDS wage differentials are much larger for RNs and non-nursing health practitioners than for other nursing and health care workers, suggesting that this differential represents compensation paid for job-related exposure to potentially HIV-infected blood.

Underpaid or Overpaid? Wage Analysis for Nurses Using Job and Worker Attributes

The nursing labor market presents an apparent puzzle. Hospitals report chronic shortages, yet standard wage analysis shows that nursing wages have increased over time and greatly exceed those received by other college-educated women. This paper addresses this puzzle. Data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) are matched with detailed job content descriptors from the Occupational Information Network (O*NET). Nursing jobs require higher levels of skills and more difficult working conditions than do jobs for other college educated workers. A standard CPS-only wage regression shows a registered nurse (RN) wage advantage of .22 log points compared to a pooled male/female group of college-educated workers. Control for O*NET job attributes reduces the RN gap to .08, while an arguably preferable nonparametric estimator produces a wage gap estimate close to zero. We conclude that nurses receive compensation close to long-run opportunity costs, narrowing if not resolving the RN wage-shortage puzzle.nursing, wage differentials, job attributes

Relative Wages and Exit Behavior Among Registered Nurses

I examine the exit decision of registered nurses using the longitudinal data files generated by the March Current Population Surveys (CPS) from 1983 through 1994. By examining the wages of workers outside of nursing, a measure of the reservation wage is constructed and related to the decision to leave nursing, either for an alternative job or to exit employment. My results indicate that nurses respond to outside wage opportunities. A one standard deviation decrease in the difference between the actual and predicted log wage results in an 8 percent increase in the exit of nurses. Secretaries, however, are shown to have a much greater sensitivity to outside wages due to the lower degree of occupation-specific training required for secretarial jobs. A similar increase in the wage gap for secretaries results in an 18 percent increase in turnover. RNs employed in hospitals, covered by a union contract, and employed in the public sector are relatively attached to the nursing profession

Edward Schumacher-Matos Lecture

Born in Colombia, Schumacher-Matos was in the U.S. illegally from age 14 until age 21, when he went to court, was allowed to declare his citizenship, and joined the Army to serve in Vietnam. He was educated at Vanderbilt University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, served as a Fulbright Fellow in Japan, and as a Bi-National Commission Fellow in Spain. He also was executive director of the Spanish Institute in New York, a nonprofit dedicated to U.S.-Spanish political, economic and cultural affairs. The Robert F. Kennedy Professor for Latin American Studies at Harvard University, Schumacher-Matos is also a Shorenstein Fellow on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard\u27s Kennedy School of Government, where he teaches a graduate seminar on immigration from Latin America into the U.S. and is writing a book on the subject. Schumacher-Matos applies his rich experiences—immigrant, soldier, reporter, editor, publisher, author, ombudsman, professor, academic fellow—to his weekly, syndicated column on national and international affairs. His work has appeared in the influential journal Foreign Affairs, and he has published numerous op-ed articles, which, he says, express the value of human dignity over self-righteousness and realism over wishful thinking. His talk was the keynote address of Susquehanna University\u27s 16th annual Latino Symposium

What Explains Wage Differences between Union Members and Covered Nonmembers?

An individual covered by a collective bargaining agreement but who is not a union member is estimated to earn about 13% lower wages than a union member. Sectors with relatively few covered nonmembers are associated with a large coverage differential, while sectors with high proportions of covered nonmembers are associated with small differentials. This suggests freeriders either weaken the bargaining position of the union or weak bargaining positions increase the incentive to freeride. Only a modest amount of this differential is accounted for by unmeasured ability, the probationary period associated with newly hired union workers, or union status misclassification

Foreign-Born Nurses in the US Labor Market

This paper examines immigration and the wages of foreign and native nurses in the US labor market. Data from the Current Population Survey identifies a worker’s country of birth and the National Survey of Registered Nurses (NSRN) identifies nurses who received their basic training outside the US. In 2004 about 3.1% of the registered nurse (RN) workforce is foreign-born non-US citizens, and 3.3% received their basic education elsewhere. The principal countries of origin are the Philippines, Canada, India, and England. Regression results show a 4.5% lower wage for non-citizen nurses born outside of the US (Canadian nurses are an exception). The wage disadvantage is concentrated on foreign-born nurses new to the US; once a nurse has been in the US for 6 years there is no longer a significant penalty. Results from the NSRN show relatively little overall wage differences between RNs who received their basic training outside versus inside the US, but there is a significant wage disadvantage for those new to the US market. The presence of foreign-trained nurses appears to decrease earnings for native RNs, but the effects are small

Relative Wages and the Returns to Education in the Labor Market for Registered Nurses

Over the past two decades there have been substantial changes in the health care sector in general and hospitals in particular. These changes in turn have had an impact on the labor market for nurses. Nursing comprises the third largest occupation among women (behind secretaries and teachers) and is the largest occupation in hospitals, accounting for about a quarter of total hospital employment in 1992 (Wootton & Ross, 1995). It is well documented that there were substantial shortages of qualified RNs during the 1980s, reaching a peak in the late 1980s (Aiken & Mullinex, 1987; Buerhaus, 1993; Hassanein, 1991; McKibbon, 1990). Recently, however, new RNs are having a more difficult time finding employment after graduation and shortages are no longer perceived to pose a problem in the nursing labor market (Brider, 1996; Buerhaus, 1995). As the health care industry continues to evolve, an understanding of the labor market for registered nurses is essential to understanding how this market will respond to change. While there has been substantial research on the labor market for RNs, these studies focus primarily on monopsony power (Hirsch & Schumacher, 1995; Sullivan, 1989), labor supply (Phillips, 1996; Link 1992), unionism (Hirsch & Schumacher, in press; Adamache & Sloan, 1982; Feldman & Scheffler, 1982; Cain et al., 1981 ), or schooling (Lehrer et al., 1991; Link, 1988; Booton & Lane, 1985). There has been little research, however, providing wage analysis of RNs over time or relative to wage opportunities outside of nursing

Does Public or Not-for-Profit Status Affect the Earnings of Hospital Workers?

This paper examines the earnings differentials among hospital workers in the public, private nonprofit, and private for-profit sectors. Utilizing data from the 1995 through 2007 Current Population Surveys, unadjusted earnings are highest in the private nonprofit sector and lowest in private for-profit firms. Once measurable characteristics are accounted for, health practitioners in for-profit and nonprofit hospitals earn similar wages while public sector workers earn small but significant wage penalties. Nonprofit hospitals tend to attract workers with higher levels of skill as measured by schooling and potential experience. This could be explained in part by worker sorting and lower cost containment incentives in nonprofit hospitals. Wage change analysis using pooled 2-year panels constructed from the CPS indicate no significant differences in earnings between the three sectors of employment. Whatever the role of the sector of employment on the overall earnings of hospital workers, there is sufficient worker mobility within the industry to largely eliminate systematic wage differences across type of hospital