Men Earn $5,000 More Than Women in Nursing Industry
A new study has established that female nurses earned about $ 5,000 lesser than their male counterparts annually, though they comprise 90 percent of the workforce.
The pay gap study's conclusions were based on data from National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses from 1988-2008 and the American Community Survey which involved close to 300,000 registered nurses. The study found an average annual salary gap of $ 5,148 after accounting factors like work hours, education qualifications, experience and clinical specialty.
The biggest gap was found in anesthesiology where male nurses earned $ 17,300 more than their female counterparts and the smallest gap of $ 4,000 was noticed in middle-management nurses.
Researchers noted that though gaps have narrowed in most professions after the Equal Pay Act, the salary gap in nursing has remained consistent for several decades, USA Today reports.
Though the study did not explain the observations, researchers do not rule out gender discrimination. They also said male nurses may be better at negotiating pays and also work an undisturbed career, unlike women who may have break for pregnancy and childbirth, forcing them to return at a lower pay scale.
"Fifty years after the Equal Pay Act, the male-female salary gap has narrowed in many occupations. Yet pay inequality persists for certain occupations, including medicine and nursing. Studies have documented salary differences across clinical settings for diverse cohorts of physicians and higher salaries for male registered nurses (RNs)," researchers wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
