Health care occupations: road to success or path to dead end?

Abstract

Health care provides an attractive career choice for individuals seeking employment in a growing field with livable wages and quality benefits. Jobs in health care services are projected to increase rapidly in the coming decades. Like other skilled professions, significant disparities exist regarding who works in the positions that are highest paying and often most rewarding. This project investigates the representation and incomes of minorities in health care professions. Using secondary data, a sample of 19,693 health care workers were used for this study. The findings of this research indicate that net of other factors, minority health care workers earn $3,026 less annually than non-minorities. Additionally, minorities are disproportionately concentrated in lower compensating occupations.