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The Review of Black Political Economy

Erschienen in:

13.03.2015

An Investigation of the Historical Black Wage Premium in Nursing

verfasst von: Nicole M. Coomer

Erschienen in: The Review of Black Political Economy | Ausgabe 4/2015

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Abstract

This paper builds off of prior work analyzing the historical wage premium paid to black registered nurses (RNs) (Coomer, Nurs Econ 31(5):254–259, 2013). The average observed wages of black RNs was higher than that of white RNs in the National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses (NSSRN) over more than two decades from 1984 to 2008. This study examines the wage differential between black and white nurses that remains after controlling for factors likely to affect wages in addition to race, such as experience, education, employer type, and specialty. The differential is decomposed, following Blinder (1973) and Oaxaca (1973), revealing a large unexplained portion. Four possible explanations are examined and support is found for self-selection, experience, shift work, and demand effects.

Vorheriger Artikel A Time (Not) Apart: A Lesson in Economic History from Cotton Picking Books

Nächster Artikel Understanding Land Grabs in Africa: Insights from Marxist and Georgist Political Economics

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White collar jobs included: Computer Programmer, Chemical Engineer, Actuary, Geologist, Physician, Registered Nurse, School Teacher, Pilot, Artist, Bank Officer, Funeral Director, Restaurant Manager, School Administrator, Sales Manager, and Buyer.

Based on the 1996 and 2002 March Supplement of the CPS – weighted.

The NSSRN does not include a variable for union status. Further, there are significant differences in the identification and selection of nurses between the two surveys. In the CPS it is not uncommon for licensed practical nurses to be inadvertently classified as registered nurses. This does not occur in the NSSRN.

As a predominantly female occupation, nursing is likely to incur periods where nurses leave the labor force for work in the home. Conditional on working, black women work more than white women, married blacks have higher labor force participation rates than married whites (Potamites 2007) and college educated black women are more likely to work than their white counterparts (Neal 2004). The underlying acceptance of working mothers in black culture is greater than in white culture, and married white mothers are more likely to work in the home (Neal 2004).

Consistent with the data used in this study, Mingo (2008) found that black RNs comprised less than 5 % of the RN labor force in the early 2000’s while comprising more than double that share of the general population.

Today there are multiple and ever increasing options for entry into the RN labor market.

The NSSRN reports annual earnings including overtime, shift pay and bonus pay. Hourly wages are calculated as annual income ÷ (hours*weeks) in this analysis. This number will overstate actual hourly pay.

A common model for wage analyses is a reduced form standard wage equation estimated by regressing the natural logarithm of wages on a set of explanatory variables (Smith 1979; Blau and Beller 1992; Browne and Askew 2005 among others).

Other variables that have been included in the literature include: region (Browne and Askew 2005; Smith and Welch 1989; Blau and Beller 1992; Smith 1979), indicators for part-time work and urban residence (Blau and Beller 1992; Smith 1979), occupation, marital status, and for women the number of children (Blau and Beller 1992).

This analysis was also performed by year. These results were similar to the results overall (showing a 7–12 % premium paid to black RNs through 2004 and a 5 % premium in 2008) and are available from the author upon request.

Referring to a portion of the differential as being due to discrimination may be misleading as other unaccounted for factors may make up a part of this unexplained differential portion.

One can equivalently evaluate the difference by using the low-wage earner equation. The choice to use the high-wage equation allows each term to have an economic explanation.

See footnote 4.

One must note that nursing positions and work settings differ in ways other than shift work. Some may be more physically demanding, require more hazardous work, have greater responsibilities, etc. than others. Given the data available, it is not possible to control for these factors.

Racial concordance leads to greater levels of satisfaction and utilization among patients (Gray and Stoddard 1997; Laveist and Nuru-Jeter, 2002; Laveist et al., 2003; Saha et al., 1999).

For 1984–1996 the proportion of the population that is black by state is calculated using the monthly Current Population Survey. For 2000, 2004 and 2008 the data is obtained from the American Community Survey.

This analysis was also performed by year. These results were similar to the results overall and are available from the author upon request.

See footnote 4.

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Titel: An Investigation of the Historical Black Wage Premium in Nursing
verfasst von: Nicole M. Coomer
Publikationsdatum: 13.03.2015
Verlag: Springer US
Erschienen in: The Review of Black Political Economy / Ausgabe 4/2015
Print ISSN: 0034-6446
Elektronische ISSN: 1936-4814
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12114-015-9208-3

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