NURSING WAGES AND EDUCATIONAL CREDENTIALS - THE ROLE OF WORK EXPERIENCE AND SELECTIVITY BIAS

The purpose of this study is to compare wage profiles of registered nu rses across three types of educational backgrounds (essentially two-, three- and four-year programs), while allowing for alternative constru ction of the work-experience variable. In addition to the usual correc tion for participation selectivity bias, we also correct for selectivi ty resulting from choice of credential. Our results suggest that estim ated wage equations are quite sensitive to the different specification s of nurses' labor-market experience, and a selectivity bias is presen t for both the participation and credential-choice decision. [JEL J31, I10, I21] (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.