Will raising salaries help alleviate the nursing faculty shortage?

Research Rationale: A shortage in nursing faculty is believed to be a major threat to overcoming the nursing shortage. In order to design policies that will have the greatest impact toward resolving the problem, the reasons for the shortage must be ascertained. They appear to include the aging of the workforce and the availability of other more attractive jobs. Low faculty salaries have been cited as one factor that makes the job less attractive. However, to our knowledge, there have not been any studies that assess these factors from actual workforce data. Studies of the response of the nursing workforce as a whole to wage increases have been equivocal. The response of nursing faculty workforce to salary increases is unknown.

Objectives and Design: This study: 1) assesses the influence of faculty salary on RN participation and hours of work in nursing education; and 2) predicts the impact of faculty salary increases on the supply of nurse educators (holding other factors constant).

Methods: We estimate the RN supply response to faculty salary using the 2004 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses (NSSRN) data, to be released early in 2007. For the estimation of the decision to work in nursing education, we use a logistic regression. For the estimation of the hours of work in nursing education, we use an ordinary least squares regression with a Heckman sample selection correction. Both of these models are analyzed with and without stratification by marital status and age of children. Explanatory variables include: wage/salary, whether the individual has advanced practice degrees, age, race/ethnicity, family earnings of household members, presence of young children, region, and MSA population. Because wages are endogenous to RN supply, instrumental variables are used. Wages of non-working nurses are imputed from a regression model of wage as a function of human capital characteristics. Holding all else constant, estimators of the impact of faculty salary on the decision to work as a nursing educator and the hours of work are obtained from the regression results and used to predict the change in nursing faculty and their hours of work given various increases in average faculty salary.

Results: Pending.

Policy Implications: If we find that faculty salaries play a significant role in the faculty shortage, it will be important to establish national, state, and university-level policies that support an increase in salaries.