Abstract
This study examines how to resolve the acute nursing shortage in Japan, by proposing a simple but useful model that helps provide a basis for the theoretical analysis of this issue. Although nurses in Japan need a lifetime license, only issued by the government after completing rigorous training, they still do not hesitate to leave their nursing positions. The fact that licensed nurses do not necessarily work in the health care market, and the question of how “inactive nurses” can be lured back to their former jobs, are significant social problems in Western countries as well as in Japan. Some inactive nurses desire to return to nursing work if the incentives offered were to meet their expectations. In that regard, we propose an approach for inducing inactive nurses to return to their former jobs. The presented theoretical analysis concludes that providing childcare support for nurses, a non-pecuniary driving force, is more effective than offering them a wage rise for increasing the supply of nursing services.
Highlights
Nurses in Japan need a lifetime license, only issued by the government after completing rigorous training, a number of nurses are not beneficially employed for a variety of reasons
The framework used in this study employs the category described by Heyes (2005) as vocation. This does not necessarily mean we fully accept Heyes’ model, vocation is a significant factor in our framework, as we focus on inactive nurses who have already obtained an assured level of skill and knowledge in this field and are temporarily out of work because of birth and childcare as opposed to newcomers without vocation
The model proposed in this study introduces the vocation of each individual as well as the severity of nursing labor into the utility function of nurses
Summary
Nurses in Japan need a lifetime license, only issued by the government after completing rigorous training, a number of nurses are not beneficially employed for a variety of reasons (e.g., childcare responsibilities). According to the survey conducted by the Japan Federation of Medical Worker’s Unions (2010), nurses quit their jobs for the following main reasons: (a) over-work due to the shortage of nurses (46.1% of respondents), (b) very low wages (37.0%), (c) insufficient holidays (35.4%), (d) tough working conditions on night shifts (30.5%), and (e) dissatisfaction with nursing work (30.5%). These data suggest that nurses leave their jobs because of non-pecuniary factors as well as pecuniary ones (i.e., wage rates).
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