There are more male nurses than ever before, and — naturally — they’re making more money than their female peers, according to a new nationwide study.
The proportion of male registered nurses jumped from 2.7% in 1970 to 9.6% in 2011, according to data from the 2011 American Community Survey. The number of men who are licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses also rose from 3.9% in 1970 to 8.1% in 2011. (Licensed practical nurses work under the direction of doctors and registered nurses.)
“A predicted shortage has led to recruiting and retraining efforts to increase the pool of nurses,” report author Liana Christin Landivar, a sociologist in the Census Bureau’s Industry and Occupation Statistics Branch, said in a statement. “These efforts have included recruiting men into nursing.”
Women still made up 91% of the nursing workforce, but men, on average, earned $60,700 a year in 2011, compared with $51,100 a year for women. The gender wage gap is such a myth though, right?
[USA Today]
Image via Dan Kosmayer/Shutterstock.
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