Foreign nurse importation to the United States and the supply of native registered nurses

Arbeitspapier

Importing foreign nurses has been used as a strategy to ease nursing shortages in the United States. The effectiveness of this policy critically depends on the long-run response of native-born nurses. We examine how the immigration of foreign-born registered nurses (RNs) affects the occupational choice and long-run employment decisions of native RNs. Using a variety of empirical strategies that exploit the geographical distribution of immigrant nurses across U.S. cities, we find evidence of large displacement effects - over a 10-year period, for every foreign nurse that migrates to a city, between one and two fewer native nurses are employed in that city. We find similar results at the state level using data on individuals taking the nursing board exam - an increase in the flow of foreign nurses significantly reduces the number of natives sitting for licensure exams in the states that are more dependent on foreign-born nurses compared to those states that are less dependent on foreign nurses. Using data on self-reported workplace satisfaction among a sample of California nurses, we find evidence suggesting that some of the displacement effects could be driven by a decline in the perceived quality of the workplace environment.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Working Papers ; No. 14-7

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Professional Labor Markets; Occupational Licensing ; Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Cortés, Patricia ; Pan, Jessica
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
• (where): Boston, MA
• (when): 2014

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/107234
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET