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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences
Compensating Differentials And Unmeasured Ability In The Labor Market For Nurses: Why Do Hospitals Pay More?, Edward Schumacher, Barry Hirsch
Compensating Differentials And Unmeasured Ability In The Labor Market For Nurses: Why Do Hospitals Pay More?, Edward Schumacher, Barry Hirsch
Edward J Schumacher
Registered nurses (RNs) employed in hospitals realize a large wage advantage relative to RNs employed elsewhere. Cross-sectional estimates indicate a hospital RN wage advantage of roughly 20%. This paper examines possible sources of the hospital premium, a topic of some interest given the current shifting of medical care out of hospitals. Longitudinal analysis of Current Population Survey data for 1979-94 suggests that a third to a half of the advantage is due to unmeasured worker ability, and the authors conclude that the remainder of the advantage probably reflects compensating differentials for hospital disamenities. Supporting these conclusions is evidence that hospital …
The Earnings And Employment Of Nurses In An Era Of Cost Containment, Edward Schumacher
The Earnings And Employment Of Nurses In An Era Of Cost Containment, Edward Schumacher
Edward J Schumacher
Previous research has shown that from the 1980s through the early 1990s, nurses enjoyed substantial wage and employment gains that stemmed, to some extent, from increased labor demand. Using individual data for 1988-98 to compare nurses' fortunes with those of college-educated women and other workers in the health care industry, the author documents that nurses experienced a decline in real wages beginning in the early 1990s, at the same time that the skill premium for RNs, as reflected by the return to education and experience, was increasing. Changes in measured characteristics and their returns explain very little of the decline, …
What Explains Wage Differences Between Union Members And Covered Nonmembers?, Edward Schumacher
What Explains Wage Differences Between Union Members And Covered Nonmembers?, Edward Schumacher
Edward J Schumacher
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.