Footnote:
Nach Informationen von SSRN wurde die ursprüngliche Fassung des Dokuments March 26, 2022 erstellt
Description:
The healthcare sector is ubiquitously plagued by labour shortages in economies around the globe. The fragility of this structural shortage becomes apparent when external shocks, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, exacerbate the lack of labour in clinical practice. In this essay, we summarize current trends in healthcare workforce development across OECD countries, review theoretical concepts of labour shortages, and discuss policies to address them. In practice, developed countries often address labour shortages with targeted migration policies. However, targeted workforce migration policies only intensify labour shortages in low-and middle-income countries. Theoretical macroeconomic models suggest that supply shortages may be a result of too low wages, supply lagging behind demand, and social perception. However, changes in the wage rate cannot sufficiently increase the supply of health professionals as scholars find inelasticity wages for physicians and nurses. Non-pecuniary factors such as working conditions, job satisfaction, and intrinsic motivation are at least equally important as the financial incentive. In conclusion, increased wages can only be part of a heterogeneous policy plan to address shortages. Migration and retirement levels of health professionals can temporarily mitigate labour shortages but rarely change the underlying systemic issues. Increasing the number of places available in medical and nursing school while also improving, both, financial and non-financial incentives for employees are long-term structural policy options