IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/fistud/v45y2024i4p543-557.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is there a public sector earnings premium in UK healthcare?

Author

Listed:
  • Melanie Jones
  • Ezgi Kaya

Abstract

Using data from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, we provide the first estimates of intra‐occupation sectoral hourly remuneration differentials in Britain. Focusing on healthcare, we find that public sector remuneration differentials for comparable workers vary substantially across occupations, with benchmark estimates from a premium of 34 per cent for care workers to no significant differential for medical secretaries. This variation, as well as differences in trends in intra‐occupational estimates, illustrates the insights from intra‐occupation estimates for government pay setting. Indeed, in stark contrast to national estimates of a relatively small public sector differential, we find sizeable and robust public sector premiums for doctors, auxiliary nurses and care workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Melanie Jones & Ezgi Kaya, 2024. "Is there a public sector earnings premium in UK healthcare?," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 45(4), pages 543-557, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:fistud:v:45:y:2024:i:4:p:543-557
    DOI: 10.1111/1475-5890.12380
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-5890.12380
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1475-5890.12380?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kostas Mavromaras & Stephane Mahuteau & Kostas Mavromaras & Sue Richardson & Rong Zhu, 2017. "Public–Private Sector Wage Differentials in Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 93, pages 105-121, June.
    2. Cribb, Jonathan & Emmerson, Carl, 2016. "Workplace pensions and remuneration in the public and private sectors in the UK," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 237, pages 30-37, August.
    3. Sarah Louise Jewell & Giovanni Razzu & Carl Singleton, 2020. "Who Works for Whom and the UK Gender Pay Gap," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 58(1), pages 50-81, March.
    4. Carol Propper & John Van Reenen, 2010. "Can Pay Regulation Kill? Panel Data Evidence on the Effect of Labor Markets on Hospital Performance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 118(2), pages 222-273, April.
    5. Elder, Todd E. & Goddeeris, John H. & Haider, Steven J., 2010. "Unexplained gaps and Oaxaca-Blinder decompositions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 284-290, January.
    6. Danzer, Alexander M. & Dolton, Peter J., 2012. "Total Reward and pensions in the UK in the public and private sectors," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 584-594.
    7. R. F. Elliott & K. Duffus, 1996. "What Has Been Happening to Pay in the Public-Service Sector of the British Economy? Developments over the Period 1970–1992," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 34(1), pages 51-85, March.
    8. Phillips, V. L., 1995. "Nurses' labor supply: Participation, hours of work, and discontinuities in the supply function," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(5), pages 567-582, December.
    9. Philip Murphy & David Blackaby & Nigel O'Leary & Anita Staneva, 2020. "Understanding What Has Been Happening to the Public‐Sector Pay Premium in Great Britain: A Distributional Approach Based on the Labour Force Survey," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 58(2), pages 273-300, June.
    10. Bob Elliott, 2003. "Labour markets in the NHS: an agenda for research," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 12(10), pages 797-801, October.
    11. Divine Ikenwilo & Anthony Scott, 2007. "The effects of pay and job satisfaction on the labour supply of hospital consultants," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(12), pages 1303-1318, December.
    12. Singleton, Carl, 2019. "The public–private sector wage differential in the UK: Evidence from longitudinal employer–employee data," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 109-113.
    13. Elliott, Robert F. & Ma, Ada H.Y. & Scott, Anthony & Bell, David & Roberts, Elizabeth, 2007. "Geographically differentiated pay in the labour market for nurses," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 190-212, January.
    14. Divine Ikenwilo & Anthony Scott, 2007. "The effects of pay and job satisfaction on the labour supply of hospital consultants," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(12), pages 1303-1318.
    15. Stephen Gibbons & Henry G. Overman & Panu Pelkonen, 2014. "Area Disparities in Britain: Understanding the Contribution of People vs. Place Through Variance Decompositions," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 76(5), pages 745-763, October.
    16. Dale Belman & John S. Heywood, 2004. "Public wage differentials and the treatment of occupational differences," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(1), pages 135-152.
    17. Halvorsen, Robert & Palmquist, Raymond, 1980. "The Interpretation of Dummy Variables in Semilogarithmic Equations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(3), pages 474-475, June.
    18. David Blackaby & Philip Murphy & Nigel O’Leary & Anita Staneva, 2018. "Regional pay? The public/private sector pay differential," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(4), pages 477-489, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Philip Murphy & David Blackaby & Nigel O'Leary & Anita Staneva, 2020. "Understanding What Has Been Happening to the Public‐Sector Pay Premium in Great Britain: A Distributional Approach Based on the Labour Force Survey," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 58(2), pages 273-300, June.
    2. Hanel, Barbara & Kalb, Guyonne & Scott, Anthony, 2014. "Nurses’ labour supply elasticities: The importance of accounting for extensive margins," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 94-112.
    3. Melanie Jones & Ezgi Kaya, 2024. "Performance‐related pay and the UK gender pay gap," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(4), pages 512-529, October.
    4. Rowena Crawford & Richard Disney & Carl Emmerson, 2015. "The short run elasticity of National Health Service nurses’ labour supply in Great Britain," IFS Working Papers W15/04, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    5. Bonaccolto-Töpfer, Marina & Castagnetti, Carolina & Prümer, Stephanie, 2022. "Understanding the public-private sector wage gap in Germany: New evidence from a Fixed Effects quantile Approach∗," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    6. Terence Chai Cheng & Anthony Scott & Sung-Hee Jeon & Guyonne Kalb & John Humphreys & Catherine Joyce, 2010. "What Factors Influence the Earnings of GPs and Medical Specialists in Australia? Evidence from the MABEL Survey," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2010n12, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    7. Terence Chai Cheng & Anthony Scott & Sung‐Hee Jeon & Guyonne Kalb & John Humphreys & Catherine Joyce, 2012. "What Factors Influence The Earnings Of General Practitioners And Medical Specialists? Evidence From The Medicine In Australia: Balancing Employment And Life Survey," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(11), pages 1300-1317, November.
    8. Carol Propper & George Stoye & Max Warner, 2023. "The effects of pension reforms on physician labour supply: Evidence from the English NHS," IFS Working Papers W23/26, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    9. Falch, Torberg & Johansen, Kåre & Strøm, Bjarne, 2009. "Teacher shortages and the business cycle," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 648-658, December.
    10. Terence C. Cheng & Pravin K. Trivedi, 2015. "Attrition Bias in Panel Data: A Sheep in Wolf's Clothing? A Case Study Based on the Mabel Survey," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(9), pages 1101-1117, September.
    11. Ester Manna, 2017. "Customer‐oriented employees: Blessing or curse for firms?," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 842-875, December.
    12. Andreassen, Leif & Di Tommaso, Maria Laura & Strøm, Steinar, 2013. "Do medical doctors respond to economic incentives?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 392-409.
    13. Phan, Van & Singleton, Carl & Bryson, Alex & Forth, John & Ritchie, Felix & Stokes, Lucy & Whittard, Damian, 2022. "Accounting for Firms in Ethnicity Wage Gaps throughout the Earnings Distribution," IZA Discussion Papers 15284, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Morikawa, Masayuki, 2016. "A comparison of the wage structure between the public and private sectors in Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 73-90.
    15. Barbara Broadway & Guyonne Kalb & Jinhu Li & Anthony Scott, 2017. "Do Financial Incentives Influence GPs' Decisions to Do After‐hours Work? A Discrete Choice Labour Supply Model," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(12), pages 52-66, December.
    16. Di Tommaso, M.L. & Strøm, S. & Sæther, E.M., 2009. "Nurses wanted: Is the job too harsh or is the wage too low?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 748-757, May.
    17. Boris Kaiser, 2017. "Gender-specific practice styles and ambulatory health care expenditures," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 18(9), pages 1157-1179, December.
    18. Kalb, Guyonne & Kühnle, Daniel & Scott, Anthony & Cheng, Terence Chai & Jeon, Sung-Hee, 2015. "What Factors Affect Doctors' Hours Decisions: Comparing Structural Discrete Choice and Reduced-Form Approaches," IZA Discussion Papers 9054, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Jean-Baptiste Combes & Eric Delattre & Bob Elliott & Diane Skåtun, 2015. "Hospital staffing and local pay: an investigation into the impact of local variations in the competitiveness of nurses’ pay on the staffing of hospitals in France," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 16(7), pages 763-780, September.
    20. Kurt R. Brekke & Luigi Siciliani & Odd Rune Straume, 2017. "Hospital Mergers with Regulated Prices," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 119(3), pages 597-627, July.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:fistud:v:45:y:2024:i:4:p:543-557. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1475-5890 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.