Re: Nursing Shortage-low wage?

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On 3/06/06, Mr. Blue wrote:
>
> Regarding the alleged nursing shortage that Carol mentioned, I have
> seen posts from nurses on newsgroups who said that the nursing
> shortage was caused by low pay and bad working conditions. That
> shouldn't be a surprise since the laws of economics apply to the
> nursing field, just as they do other fields. Since hospitals didn't
> want to pay enough to make being a nurse worthwhile, there was a
> "shortage".
>

Perceptions about wages are all relative. Yes, a nurse's wage might
be perceived "low" compared to a doctor's or a phamacist's wage. But
it's probably higher than the minimum wage.

The main problem might have been that 1) potentially would-be nurses
had alternatives careers which were more rewarding; and/or 2)
hospitals, to the extent that they are non-profit at all, could pay
only certain level of wage to remain in operation.

Now that more professions are disappearing in the u.s., and workers
such as Blue have fewer alternatives to secure higher wages, we may
see more Americans finally sucking it up and crowding into the nursing
schools.