Abstract
This article focuses on remuneration in the Human Resources for Health (HRH), comparing wage levels, ranking and dispersion of 16 HRH occupations in 20 countries (Argentina, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, India, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Russian Federation, South-Africa, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States). Research questions asked are to what extent are the wage rankings, wage dispersion, and standardized wage levels are similar between the 16 occupational groups in the HRH workforce across countries. The pooled data from the continuous, worldwide, multilingual WageIndicator web-survey between 2008 and 2011Q1 have been analysed (N=38,799). Hourly wages expressed in standardized USD, all controlled for PPP and then indexed to 2011 levels. The fi ndings show that the Medical Doctors have overall the highest median wages and they have so in 11 of 20 countries, while the Personal Care Workers have overall lowest wages and they have so in 9 of 20 countries. Health Care Managers lower earnings than Medical Doctors, but in 5 of 20 countries they have higher earnings (BLR, CZE, POL, RUS, UKR). The wage levels of Nursing & Midwifery Professionals vary largely across countries. The correlation of the overall ranking to the national ranking is more than .7 in 7 of 20 countries. The wage dispersion is defi ned as the ratio of the highest to the lowest median earnings in an occupation in a country. It is highest in Brazil (7.0), and lowest in Sweden, Germany, Poland, and Argentina. When comparing wage levels in occupations across countries, the largest wage differences for the Medical Doctors: the Ukraine doctor earns 19 times less compared to the US doctor. A correlation between country-level earnings and wage differentials across countries reveals that the higher the median wages in an occupation, the higher the wage difference across countries (r=.9). In conclusion, this article breaks new ground by investigating for the first time the wage levels, ranking and dispersion of occupational groups in the HRH workforce across countries. Findings illustrate that the assumption of similarity in cross-country wage ranking, wage dispersion, and purchasing power adjusted wage levels does not hold. These findings help to explain the complexity of migratory paths seen.
Highlights
This article represents the first attempt to explore remuneration in Human Resources for Health (HRH), comparing wage levels, ranking and dispersion of 16 HRH occupational groups in 20 countries (Argentina, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, India, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Russian Federation, Republic of South Africa (RSA), Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, United Kingdom (UK), and United States of America (USA))
The wage ranking of 16 HRH occupational groups is fairly similar across countries
No support is found for the assumption that the ratio across the highest and lowest earning HRH occupations is similar between countries: it varies from 2.0 in Sweden to 9.7 in Brazil
Summary
This article represents the first attempt to explore remuneration in Human Resources for Health (HRH), comparing wage levels, ranking and dispersion of 16 HRH occupational groups in 20 countries (Argentina, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, India, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Russian Federation, Republic of South Africa (RSA), Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, United Kingdom (UK), and United States of America (USA)). While the October Inquiry and the Occupational Wages (OWW) database of the International Labour Organization (ILO) is an important resource, only seven occupations are included for the health sector (general physician, dentist, professional nurse, auxiliary nurse, physiotherapist, medical X-ray technician, and ambulance driver). Another major source, the Luxembourg Income and Employment Study, has surveyed 30 countries over the past decades, yet lacks sufficient specificity - as most labor force surveys do - by not providing further detail than a twodigit coding of ILO’s International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO). In 10% of the 63 countries under review were these data available, with the result that the availability of pay roll data was ranked as the second-lowest component
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
