Nursing wages and educational credentials : the role of work experience and selectivity bias

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to compare wage profiles of registered nurses across three types of educational backgrounds (essentially two-, three- and four-year programs), while allowing for alternative construction of the work-experience variable. In addition to the usual correction for participation selectivity bias, we also correct for selectivity resulting from choice of credential. Our results suggest that estimated wage equations are quite sensitive to the different specifications of nurses’ labor-market experience, and a selectivity bias is present for both the participation and credential-choice decision.