Nurses' labour supply elasticities: the importance of accounting for extensive margins

Barbara Hanel, Guyonne Kalb, Anthony Scott

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

19 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We estimate a multi-sector model of nursing qualification holders' labour supply in different occupations. A structural approach allows us to model the labour force participation decision, the occupational and shift-type choice, and the decision about hours worked as a joint outcome following from maximising a utility function. Disutility from work is allowed to vary by occupation and also by shift type in the utility function. Our results suggest that average wage elasticities might be higher than previous research has found. This is mainly due to the effect of wages on the decision to enter or exit the profession, which was not included in the previous literature, rather than from its effect on increased working hours for those who already work in the profession.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)94-112
Number of pages19
JournalJournal of Health Economics
Volume33
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2014
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Labour supply
  • Nursing
  • Shift work
  • Wage elasticities

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