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Researchers use statistical regression analysis to spot discrimination in an unexpected profession.

When Sandra McGinnis and Jean Moore at the Center for Health Workforce Studies at the State University of New York at Albany looked at the results of a 2007 survey of close to 3,000 New York City hospital nurses, they didn’t expect to see such wide differences in pay.

Conventional wisdom suggests in a world of inequality, nursing is less unequal, McGinnis said.

“It’s pretty well known there are salary disparities by race and ethnicity in the wider work force, but because nursing has been a field that has these cyclical shortages, a lot of people have regarded it as some place where minorities can expect a more level playing field because they are so badly needed.”

The data suggested otherwise. “We found that years of experience weren’t worth as much for minority nurses than whites,” McGinnis said.

Their findings suggest that even in a city as racially diverse as New York, in a profession largely regarded as equal, there still could be inequality. If the study’s findings are correct, it should send a wake-up call to health care industry leaders nationwide.

Exactly how much less those years of experience were worth for African Americans, Asians or Pacific Islanders and Hispanics can be determined through statistical regression analysis, which uses linear progression to make assumptions about a larger population.

Their results showed that minority nurses in New York City earned on average $6,000 less than white counterparts with the same level of education and experience. African-American nurses received $3,000 less because their qualifications weren’t valued as much and another $3,000 less for what researchers call human capital and their structural position in the labor market.

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By David Rosenfeld for Miller-McCune

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