Nurse Wage Status and Wage determinants

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify the causes of the shortage of nurses in local small and medium-sized hospitals by confirming the wage status according to the characteristics of nurses and the characteristics of medical institutions and analyzing the factors affecting the wages of nurses.Methods: The study was conducted by linking the DB of medical institutions owned by the National Health Insurance Corporation, DB of medical personnel, and DB of health insurance qualification. As of the end of 2018, only nurses working at hospital-level medical institutions who were reported to the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service were registered as registered members of the health insurance at the medical institution. The dependent variables were the monthly average wage of nurses, and the independent variables were age, institution establishment, medical institution type, region, and number of beds. In the analysis, first, wages by individual and institutional characteristics were identified through basic statistical analysis, and factors affecting wages were analyzed through regression analysis.Result: As a result, the wages of nurses increased 71,184 won as the age increased, and the establishment of medical institutions was 291,574 won less and corporations 660,725 won less than the national government. The types of medical institutions were 400,964 won less and 675,829 won less than general hospitals. The size of the city was 325,989 won less in metropolitan cities and 263,672 won less in metropolitan areas than in the metropolitan area. As the number of beds at medical institutions increased by one bed, it was 708 won higher.Conclusion: According to the analysis of the wage status according to the characteristics of nurses’ personal characteristics and medical institutions, and the wage determinants of nurses, the relatively low wages of nurses in local small and medium hospitals were the main cause of job shortage. The market principle is that the wage increases if there is a shortage of supply in the labor market compared to the demand of nurses. On the contrary, the wage is lower in local SMEs. As a result, there seems to be some nurses who give up their activities. In order to resolve the labor shortage in local small and medium-sized hospitals, it is necessary to narrow the wage gap, and to create a working environment such as elastic working so that the daily work can be balanced.