Unionization and the Wage Structure of Nursing

Transcription

1 Unionization and the Wage Structure of Nursing Joanne Spetz, Ph.D. University of California, San Francisco Michael Ash, Ph.D. University of Massachusetts at Amherst June

2 Union influence in health care is growing Nearly 21% of RNs were in unions in 2006 Unionization rate is 5 percentage points higher than for other US workers Increasing rate of unionization among health care workers Aggressive bargaining for contracts Efforts to change state and national policies Conflicts and competition between unions 2

3 Unionization has risen over time 3

4 What do unions do? Seek to divert employers net revenues (profits) to workers Wages Benefits Working conditions Control employer behavior Hiring Firing Layoffs 4

5 What do unions do? Maintain their position Create solidarity among workers Wages, benefits, working conditions Public relations, public service, legal actions, advocacy Reduced wage dispersion, increased sense of fairness 5

6 Cross-industry research finds Unions are associated with higher wages and benefits Public sector unions have smaller wage premium Is health care in the US public or private sector? Wage premium for unionization has declined over past 2 decades Decline is smaller in health industry 6

7 How do unions affect hospital RN wages? Research from 1970s and 1980s find union wage premia for RNs Some evidence that non-union RN wages are affected by union wages This study: Do unions affect the structure of wages? 7

8 Data and methods US Current Population Survey data, RNs identified by their self-reported occupation Hospital nurses identified by employment setting Number of observations: average=326/yr unionized, 1472/yr non-union RNs No fewer than 233 union or 1133 non-union RNs 8

9 Data and methods Restricted sample to RNs who worked at least 20 hours per week Hourly wage computed Usual weekly earnings divided by usual weekly hours All wages adjusted for inflation to 2006 dollars Deleted outliers (< minimum wage, >$100/hr) Deleted cases with imputed wages 9

10 Data and methods Education is self-reported, based on degrees received Some college assumed to be Diploma RN Associate degree assumed to be AD RN Baccalaureate degree assumed to be BSN It is possible that the nurse s highest degree is not in a nursing field (e.g., BS in biology, AD in nursing) Experience is estimated from years since education 10

11 Characteristics of hospital RNs, CPS, Union Non-Union Hourly earnings $33.50 $28.20 Female 91.1% 92.4% Immigrant 18.9% 10.1% Urban residence 85.6% 80.0% White 71.9% 82.5% Assoc. Degree 37.1% 40.4% Bachelor s Deg. 50.4% 49.0% Age

12 Estimating the effect of unions on wage dispersion, part 1 Ordinary least squares estimates of wages Dependent variable: log (hourly wages) Explanatory variables: Education Potential experience (age years of ed) Citizenship, immigration Race/ethnicity, gender 18 regional dummies (9 census x urban/rural) Time dummies Separate equations for union & non-union 12

13 Estimating the effect of unions on wage dispersion, part 2 Examine residual wages from OLS regressions Compare residuals for unionized RNs to nonunion RNs 13

14 Results, part 1 (OLS regression) Union Non-union Diff Female Immigrant * Black * Hispanic Other race Non-union immigrants and blacks face a significant wage penalty. The coefficients of the union and non-union equations are not significantly different from each other. 14

15 Results, part 1 (OLS regression) Union Non-union Diff Diploma * Bachelor s 0.083* 0.074* Master s 0.237* 0.197* Doctorate Experience 0.017* 0.002* Experience-sq * * Diploma wage gap vanishes, other education gaps don t change. Experience gap? 15

16 Wage-experience profile 16

17 Results, part 2 (residual ln wages) 17

18 Conclusions Modest or no effect on the wage structure: No race-wage gaps among unionized RNs Differences between the union & non-union coefficients are not significant No penalty for diploma among union RNs Lower premium for experience among union RNs Differences in coefficients not statistically significant 18