The shortage of registered nurses and some new estimates of the effects of wages on registered nurses labor supply: a look at the past and a preview of the 21st century.

The US and many other countries are in the midst of a severe shortage of registered nurses (RNs). Labor supply models for currently trained RNs are estimated by gender and marital status using the 1992, 1996, and 2000 data from the National Sample Surveys of Registered Nurses. This analysis extends earlier work by Link (Res. Labor Econ. 13 (1992) 287) which provided labor supply estimates for 1960, 1970, 1977, 1980, 1984, and 1988. Since the methodology and variables employed in the present study are the same as those used by Link, the empirical literature on RN labor supply is brought together for the last 40 years. Moreover, comparisons are made with other studies in the literature of the labor supply of nurses and females in the general population. Results for the key variables are consistent over the different data sets and consistent with earlier work by Link. The RN's own wage had minor effects on both labor force participation and hours worked given participation. The RN wage is still an important variable since it has a significant and positive effect on the number of people who enter first-degree nursing programs in the US. These results are important to policy-makers in light of the current shortage of RNs.