New research finds a persistent wage gap between men and women across all healthcare sectors, including entry-level jobs. This study is one of the first to consider fields that don’t require an MD or PhD, noted Bianca Frogner, director of the Center for Health Workforce Studies at the UW School of Medicine.
A wage gap still exists between men and women in the healthcare workforce (as well as the workforce at large). According to Economic Policy Institute, the U.S. wage gap in general was 21.8 % in 2023, little changed over decades. Worldwide, women face a 24% gap across the healthcare sector, according to the World Health Organization.
So far, most of this research has focused on the higher levels of the medical fields — positions requiring an M.D. or Ph.D., or nursing degree.
Yet little research has examined the wage gap between men and women in healthcare fields that don’t require an M.D. or Ph.D., noted Bianca Frogner, director of the Center for Health Workforce Studies at the University of Washington School of Medicine.
Or how to eliminate these gaps.
In a paper published in Health Affairs Scholar, Frogner and colleagues found that the wage gap persists and that little is being done to solve it, she said.
The researchers examined wage data from the Annual Social and Economic Supplement of the Current Population Survey, gathered between 2003 and 2021, to see how the gender wage gap in various healthcare fields has changed over the last two decades. They reported some good news in terms of gender representation.
Women increased 8% in healthcare positions that require a master’s degree and 42% in positions at the doctorate/professional level. At the bachelor’s degree level, however, growth was stagnant, with no change since 2003. Overall, the report noted that women make up 50% of employees for those jobs that require a doctorate degree, up from 35% two decades ago.
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