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 significantly 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 mi norities in health care professions. Individual, structural, and race/gender theories provide the theoretical framework for the composite model. Using secondary data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) March 2008 Annual Social & Economic Supplement (ASEC), a sample of 19,693 health care workers were used for this study. Univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analyses were used to test the composite model hypotheses. The findings of this research indicate that net of other factors, minority health care workers earn $3,036 less annually than non-minorities. Additionally, minorities are disproportionately concentrated in lower compensating occupations.