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Foreign‐born nurses in the US labor market
Author(s) -
Schumacher Edward J.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
health economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.55
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1099-1050
pISSN - 1057-9230
DOI - 10.1002/hec.1595
Subject(s) - earnings , disadvantage , workforce , immigration , wage , current population survey , native born , foreign born , labour economics , demographic economics , population , nursing , medicine , business , economics , political science , economic growth , accounting , environmental health , law
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. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.