OECD report on physician incomes
General Practioner Real Incomes
See: Page 18 (Figure 83)
Specialists Real Incomes
See: Page 23 (Figure 8)
Nurses experienced real wage growth of 12.8% between 2000 and 2004, the first significant upturn in real wages since 1988 (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2006), which may have been a contributing factor in increased nursing school enrollments (see Figure 4). Nurses’ incomes in absolute terms are reasonable by domestic standards and high by international standards. As noted in Table 6, the relative remuneration of RNs (ratio of absolute remuneration to per capita GDP) is favorable. Nurse workforce research has been out of favor for over two decades and thus recent research on the effect of wages on nursing school applications is lacking. In 2005 and 2006 nurses’ real wage growth was flat. Nevertheless, the domestic applicant pool for nursing schools remains very strong and thousands of qualified applicants continue to be turned away each year. One explanation for increased interest in nursing is the obverse of the explanation for the decline in applications in the mid-1990s: plenty of jobs in every community at a time when white collar jobs are less plentiful