IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/eujhec/v25y2024i3d10.1007_s10198-023-01600-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Analyzing nurses’ decisions to leave their profession—a duration analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Martin Kroczek

    (Institute for Applied Economic Research (IAW))

Abstract

Many countries suffer from skilled labor shortages in nursing. One way to increase the nurse labor supply is to raise their retention rates. Yet, though several studies exist on factors associated with the nurse labor supply at different levels, literature on factors associated with nurses’ decisions to leave their occupation is relatively scarce. Based on German administrative data, I analyze the determinants of nurses’ decisions to leave their profession. My results suggest that younger nurses, nurses in the social sector, and nurses working with smaller employers leave their occupation more often than their counterparts, irrespective of their specific nursing occupations and care settings. Nurses leave more often where more alternative occupational options are available. Nurses who have been unemployed and nurses who have been employed in a different field have a higher probability of leaving the occupation, whereas nurses who just finished vocational training only have a moderate propensity to leave. Female nurses leave less often if employed part time. Female nurses in part time leave even more seldom if they have children. A change in the hospital reimbursement system and introducing a nursing minimum wage during the first decade of the century did not change nurses’ occupation durations.

Suggested Citation

  • Martin Kroczek, 2024. "Analyzing nurses’ decisions to leave their profession—a duration analysis," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 25(3), pages 471-496, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:eujhec:v:25:y:2024:i:3:d:10.1007_s10198-023-01600-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s10198-023-01600-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10198-023-01600-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10198-023-01600-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Farber, Henry S, 1994. "The Analysis of Interfirm Worker Mobility," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 12(4), pages 554-593, October.
    2. Alain Cohn & Michel André Maréchal & Frédéric Schneider & Roberto A Weber, 2021. "Frequent Job Changes can Signal Poor Work Attitude and Reduce Employability," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 19(1), pages 475-508.
    3. Di Tommaso, M.L. & Strøm, S. & Sæther, E.M., 2009. "Nurses wanted: Is the job too harsh or is the wage too low?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 748-757, May.
    4. Bernhard Boockmann & Susanne Steffes, 2010. "Workers, Firms, or Institutions: What Determines Job Duration for Male Employees in Germany?," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 64(1), pages 109-127, October.
    5. Nooney, Jennifer G. & Unruh, Lynn & Yore, Michelle M., 2010. "Should I stay or should I go? Career change and labor force separation among registered nurses in the U.S," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(12), pages 1874-1881, June.
    6. Paul Frijters & Michael A. Shields & Stephen Wheatley Price, 2007. "Investigating the quitting decision of nurses: panel data evidence from the british national health service," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(1), pages 57-73, January.
    7. Hanel, Barbara & Kalb, Guyonne & Scott, Anthony, 2014. "Nurses’ labour supply elasticities: The importance of accounting for extensive margins," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 94-112.
    8. Jovanovic, Boyan, 1979. "Job Matching and the Theory of Turnover," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(5), pages 972-990, October.
    9. T. Kankaanranta & P. Rissanen, 2008. "Nurses’ intentions to leave nursing in Finland," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 9(4), pages 333-342, November.
    10. Gianna Giannelli & Ursula Jaenichen & Claudia Villosio, 2012. "Have Labor Market Reforms at the Turn of the Millennium Changed the Job and Employment Durations of new Entrants?," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 33(2), pages 143-172, June.
    11. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pb:p:2439-2483 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Shields, Michael A. & Ward, Melanie, 2001. "Improving nurse retention in the National Health Service in England: the impact of job satisfaction on intentions to quit," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(5), pages 677-701, September.
    13. Bernd Fitzenberger & Aderonke Osikominu & Robert Völter, 2006. "Imputation Rules to Improve the Education Variable in the IAB Employment Subsample," Schmollers Jahrbuch : Journal of Applied Social Science Studies / Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 126(3), pages 405-436.
    14. Katrin Harsch & Hans Verbeek, 2012. "Der Mindestlohn in der Pflegebranche – Die Folgen eines Mindestlohns in einer Wachstumsbranche [The Minimum Wage in the Care Secor—The Consequences of a Minimum Wage in a Growth Sector]," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 45(3), pages 355-378, December.
    15. Michelle Cunich & Stephen Whelan, 2010. "Nurse Education and the Retention of Registered Nurses in New South Wales," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 86(274), pages 396-413, September.
    16. repec:iab:iabfda:201604(en is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Manfred Antoni & Elke J. Jahn, 2009. "Do Changes in Regulation Affect Employment Duration in Temporary Help Agencies?," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 62(2), pages 226-251, January.
    18. Denise Doiron & Glenn Jones, 2006. "Nurses' Retention and Hospital Characteristics in New South Wales," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 82(256), pages 11-29, March.
    19. Gianna C. Giannelli & Ursula Jaenichen & Thomas Rothe, 2016. "The evolution of job stability and wages after the implementation of the Hartz reforms [Die Entwicklung von Beschäftigungsstabilität und Löhnen seit Einführung der Hartz-Reformen]," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 49(3), pages 269-294, November.
    20. Leif Andreassen & Maria Laura Tommaso & Steinar Strøm, 2017. "Nurses and physicians: a longitudinal analysis of mobility between jobs and labor supply," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 52(4), pages 1235-1269, June.
    21. Michael A. Shields, 2004. "Addressing nurse shortages: what can policy makers learn from the econometric evidence on nurse labour supply?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(499), pages 464-498, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Martin Kroczek, 2021. "Analyzing Nurses‘ Decisions to Leave Their Profession – a Duration Analysis," IAW Discussion Papers 136, Institut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung (IAW).
    2. Martin Kroczek & Jochen Späth, 2022. "The attractiveness of jobs in the German care sector: results of a factorial survey," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 23(9), pages 1547-1562, December.
    3. Kroczek, Martin & Koch, Andreas, 2024. "The reaction of wages to skill shortage in nursing," VfS Annual Conference 2024 (Berlin): Upcoming Labor Market Challenges 302406, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    4. Michelle Cunich & Stephen Whelan, 2010. "Nurse Education and the Retention of Registered Nurses in New South Wales," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 86(274), pages 396-413, September.
    5. Schweri, Juerg & Hartog, Joop, 2017. "Do wage expectations predict college enrollment? Evidence from healthcare," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 135-150.
    6. Schweri, Juerg & Hartog, Joop, 2014. "Do wage expectations influence the decision to enroll in nursing college?," VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy 100542, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    7. Martin Kroczek & Philipp Kugler & Anne Zühlke, 2022. "Erwerbsverläufe und Einkommensentwicklung in der Pflege," IAW Discussion Papers 137, Institut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung (IAW).
    8. Giannelli, Gianna Claudia & Jaenichen, Ursula & Rothe, Thomas, 2013. "Doing Well in Reforming the Labour Market? Recent Trends in Job Stability and Wages in Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 7580, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Barbara Eberth & Robert F. Elliott & Diane Skåtun, 2016. "Pay or conditions? The role of workplace characteristics in nurses’ labor supply," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 17(6), pages 771-785, July.
    10. Denise Doiron & Jane Hall & Patricia Kenny & Deborah J. Street, 2014. "Job preferences of students and new graduates in nursing," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(9), pages 924-939, March.
    11. Hanel, Barbara & Kalb, Guyonne & Scott, Anthony, 2014. "Nurses’ labour supply elasticities: The importance of accounting for extensive margins," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 94-112.
    12. Serra-Sastre, Victoria, 2024. "Workplace violence and intention to quit in the English NHS," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 340(C).
    13. Serra-Sastre, Victoria, 2024. "Workplace violence and intention to quit in the English NHS," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121623, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    14. Divine Ikenwilo & Anthony Scott, 2007. "The effects of pay and job satisfaction on the labour supply of hospital consultants," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(12), pages 1303-1318.
    15. Katharina Dengler & Katrin Hohmeyer & Cordula Zabel, 2021. "Welfare recipients’ transition into employment and employment stability in Germany," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 35(4), pages 450-484, December.
    16. Robert Hill & Kezia Lilenstein & Amy Thornton, 2020. "Job spells in an emerging market: Evidence from apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2020-27, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    17. Rowena Crawford & Richard Disney & Carl Emmerson, 2015. "The short run elasticity of National Health Service nurses’ labour supply in Great Britain," IFS Working Papers W15/04, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    18. Christine Dauth & Julia Lang, 2019. "Can the unemployed be trained to care for the elderly? The effects of subsidized training in elderly care," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(4), pages 543-555, April.
    19. Juerg Schweri, 2021. "Predicting polytomous career choices in healthcare using probabilistic expectations data," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(3), pages 544-563, March.
    20. Gianna C. Giannelli & Ursula Jaenichen & Thomas Rothe, 2016. "The evolution of job stability and wages after the implementation of the Hartz reforms [Die Entwicklung von Beschäftigungsstabilität und Löhnen seit Einführung der Hartz-Reformen]," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 49(3), pages 269-294, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Nurses’ labor supply; Duration analysis; Occupation duration;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:eujhec:v:25:y:2024:i:3:d:10.1007_s10198-023-01600-y. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.