From physicians to registered nurses, the gender pay gap among health care workers remains an industry concern.
According to research published in Health Affairs Scholar, gender inequity continues to harm both women’s compensation and career advancement in health care, despite women performing roughly 77% of all U.S. health care jobs. But it doesn’t affect each health care career the same.
“The adjusted wage gap between women and men is the largest among workers in high-education health care (eg., physicians, advanced practitioners) but has decreased substantially over the last 20 years, while, descriptively, the gender wage gap has stagnated or grown larger in some lower education occupations,” University of Minnesota associate professor Janette Dill and University of Washington professor Bianca K Frogner, both research authors, reported.
To determine just how destructive the gender wage gap is within the health care industry, the researchers performed a retrospective analysis of Current Population Survey data from 2003 to 2021, which contains data on roughly 60,000 households. The results revealed the gender pay gap was narrowest within nursing occupations, with female registered nurses making 82% of their male counterpart’s wages. Although nursing careers have the narrowest gaps, 82% still represents a 5% decline over the past two decades.
The gender wage gap was the widest among advanced practitioners, where women made only 68% as much as men. Physicians faced a 70% wage gap.
“What accounts for the gender wage gap?” Dill and Frogner asked in their report. “Across occupations, occupational segregation — where men and women work in specific occupations — accounts for almost half of the overall gender wage gap. Women-dominated occupations pay less, often much less, than male-dominated occupations, when controlling for education, skill level, work experience, and other factors.”
Here is a full list of the gender wage gap within the health care industry for 2021, as provided by Becker’s Hospital Review:
Physicians
Men: $245,039
Women: $164,099
Advanced practice, excluding RNs
Men: $109,349
Women: $81,976
RNs, including APRN
Men: $88,667
Women: $69,201
Therapists
Men: $56,380
Women: $51,501
Technicians
Men: $64,524
Women: $45,993
LPN/LVN
Men: $57,502
Women: $46,925
Aides and assistants
Men: $35,574
Women: $27,862
Community-based workers
Men: $49,138
Women: $50,564
Less than high school
Men: $54,094
Women: $26,688
High school diploma or equivalent
Men: $38,444
Women: $29,070
Some college
Men: $40,630
Women: $29,303
Associate’s degree
Men: $57,336
Women: $45,216
Bachelor’s degree
Men: $71,470
Women: $61,186
Master’s degree
Men: $94,542
Women: $68,410
Professional school/doctorate
Men: $186,320
Women: $122,311
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