Many countries suffer from skilled labor shortages in nursing. One way to increase the nurse labor supply is to raise their retention rates. Yet, though several studies exist on factors associated with the nurse labor supply at different levels, literature on factors associated with nurses’ decisions to leave their occupation is relatively scarce. Based on German administrative data, I analyze the determinants of nurses’ decisions to leave their profession. My results suggest that younger nurses, nurses in the social sector, and nurses working with smaller employers leave their occupation more often than their counterparts, irrespective of their specific nursing occupations and care settings (inpatient or outpatient care).
March 18, 2021: Congress Poverty and Health 2021 organized by Gesundheit Berlin-Brandenburg e. V. (Online)
Wie gewinnen und halten wir (systemrelevantes) Pflegepersonal? Attraktivität von Arbeit in der Pflege vor dem Hintergrund der Corona-Pandemie
Martin Kroczek [IAW]
Wage expectation, information and the decision to become a nurse
Contrary to common perceptions, the expected wage plays a positive and statistically significant role in the decision to become a nurse. Further, understating a nurse’s wage decreases the probability of becoming one. The empirical results lead to two important policy implications. First, increasing the wage may help to overcome the shortage observed in many countries. Second, providing information on the (relative) wage may be a successful strategy to attract more individuals into this profession.
On the influence of job characteristics on the attractiveness of nursing jobs in Germany
We find that, first, attractiveness of care jobs is most strongly affected by rather “soft”characteristics such as atmosphere within the team and time for patients. “Hard” factors play a considerably smaller role. Second, one hard factor, contract duration, is estimated to be among the most important job factors, however. This is a remarkable finding given that nursing occupations suffer from severe skill shortages. Third, though wage has a statistically significant influence on attractiveness, enormous wage raises would be needed in order to yield higher attractiveness gains than the top-rated soft factors, or to compensate for less pleasant job characteristics with respect to those factors. Last, even after controlling for other job characteristics, hospital nursing is still rated as more attractive than geriatric nursing.
Understanding Rising Income Inequality in Germany, 1999/2000–2005/2006
Review of Income and Wealth, Vol. 58, pp. 62-647. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1475-4991.2012.00514.x
Der Armutsdiskurs aus ökonomischer Perspektive: Beitrag und Grenzen der neoklassisch-neoliberalen Konzeption
in: Siegfried Müller, Ulrich Otto (Hrsg.), Armut im Sozialstaat. Gesellschaftliche Analysen und sozialpolitische Konsequenzen, Luchterhand Verlag, Neuwied, Kreftel und Berlin 1997, S. 171-209
