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Full-Text Articles in Health and Medical Administration

Underpaid Or Overpaid? Wage Analyses For Nurses Using Jobs Versus Worker Attributes, Barry T. Hirsch, Edward J. Schumacher Apr 2012

Underpaid Or Overpaid? Wage Analyses For Nurses Using Jobs Versus Worker Attributes, Barry T. Hirsch, Edward J. Schumacher

Health Care Administration Faculty Research

Nursing shortages are common despite the fact that nurses earn far higher wages than other college-educated women. Our analysis addresses the puzzle of "high" nursing wages. Employee data from the Current Population Survey are matched with detailed job descriptors from the Occupational Information Network. Nursing requires high levels of compensable skills and demanding working conditions. Standard log wage regression estimates indicate nursing wage advantages of about 40%. Accounting for job attributes reduces estimates to roughly 20%. Rather than transforming ordinary least squares log gaps to percentages, alternative methods measuring Mincerian gaps produce estimates of 15% or less. We conclude that …


The Earnings And Employment Of Nurses In An Era Of Cost Containment, Edward J. Schumacher Oct 2001

The Earnings And Employment Of Nurses In An Era Of Cost Containment, Edward J. Schumacher

Health Care Administration Faculty Research

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 J. Schumacher Jan 1999

What Explains Wage Differences Between Union Members And Covered Nonmembers?, Edward J. Schumacher

Health Care Administration Faculty Research

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.


Compensating Differentials And Unmeasured Ability In The Labor Market For Nurses: Why Do Hospitals Pay More?, Edward J. Schumacher, Barry T. Hirsch Jul 1997

Compensating Differentials And Unmeasured Ability In The Labor Market For Nurses: Why Do Hospitals Pay More?, Edward J. Schumacher, Barry T. Hirsch

Health Care Administration Faculty Research

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 …