Foreign-born nurses in the US labor market

Area of Science:

• Health Economics
• Labor Economics
• Nursing Workforce Studies

Background:

• The US registered nurse (RN) workforce includes foreign-born individuals and those trained abroad.
• In 2004, foreign-born non-US citizens constituted 3.1% of the RN workforce, with 3.3% receiving basic education outside the US.
• Key countries of origin for foreign-trained nurses include the Philippines, Canada, India, and England.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the impact of immigration on the wages of foreign-born and native-born nurses in the United States.
• To investigate wage differentials between US-trained and foreign-trained registered nurses.
• To assess the effect of foreign-trained nurses on the earnings of native-born nurses.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from the Current Population Survey to identify workers by country of birth.
• Employed the National Survey of Registered Nurses (NSRN) to identify nurses trained outside the US.
• Applied regression analysis to examine wage differences and the impact of years in the US.

Main Results:

• Non-citizen nurses born outside the US faced a 4.5% wage disadvantage, with Canadian nurses being an exception.
• This wage penalty was most pronounced for foreign-born nurses recently arrived in the US, disappearing after six years.
• While overall wage differences between foreign and US-trained nurses were small, those new to the US market experienced a significant wage disadvantage.
• The presence of foreign-trained nurses had a small, negative effect on native RN earnings.

Conclusions:

• Immigration status and country of basic training influence nurse wages in the US.
• Newer foreign-born nurses face initial wage penalties, but integration into the US labor market mitigates this effect over time.
• The integration of foreign-trained nurses into the US nursing workforce has minimal adverse effects on native nurses' earnings.