Wages and Health Worker Retention in Ghana : Evidence from Public Sector Wage Reforms
Can governments in developing countries retain skilled health workers by raising public sector wages? The author investigates this question using sudden, policy-induced wage variation, in which the Government of Ghana restructured the pay scale for...
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2013
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2012/02/16280503/wages-health-worker-retention-ghana-evidence-public-sector-wage-reforms http://hdl.handle.net/10986/13581 |
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okr-10986-135812021-04-23T14:03:08Z Wages and Health Worker Retention in Ghana : Evidence from Public Sector Wage Reforms Antwi, James Phillips, David ATTRITION BARGAINING BARGAINING POWER BRAIN BRAIN DRAIN COMMUNITY HEALTH DENTISTS DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DIETICIANS DRIVERS EARLY RETIREMENT ECONOMICS EMPLOYEE EXPECTED WAGES FAMILIES GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOVERNMENT HEALTH WORKERS HAZARD HEALTH CARE HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS HEALTH EFFECTS HEALTH OUTCOMES HEALTH POLICY HEALTH SECTOR HEALTH SERVICES HEALTH SYSTEM HEALTH SYSTEMS HEALTH WORKERS HEALTH WORKFORCE HIV HOSPITALS HUMAN DEVELOPMENT HUMAN RESOURCE HUMAN RESOURCE STRATEGIES HUMAN RESOURCES HUMAN RIGHTS HUMAN RIGHTS OF MIGRANTS IMMIGRANTS IMMIGRATION INCOME INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS INSURANCE INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION JOB PLACEMENT JOB SEARCH JOBS JOURNAL OF MEDICINE LABOR MARKET LABOR MARKET CONDITIONS LABOR MIGRATION LABOR SUPPLY LABOR UNION LABOUR LABOUR FORCE MARGINAL VALUE MEDICAL OFFICER MEDICAL OFFICERS MEDICAL SCHOOL MIDWIVES MIGRANT MIGRANTS MIGRATION MIGRATION DATA MIGRATION FLOWS MILITARY MEDICINE MINISTRY OF HEALTH MINORITY NATIONAL STRATEGIES NEGATIVE EFFECTS NEWSLETTER NOMINAL WAGES NURSE NURSES NURSING NUTRITION OCCUPATION OCCUPATIONAL CLASSIFICATION OCCUPATIONS OLDER WORKERS PENSIONS PHYSICIANS PHYSIOTHERAPISTS POLICY CHANGE POLICY MAKERS POLICY RESEARCH POLICY RESPONSE POTENTIAL MIGRANTS PRACTITIONERS PREVALENCE PRIVATE SECTOR PROGRESS PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT PUBLIC HEALTH PUBLIC POLICY PUBLIC SERVICE PURCHASING POWER REAL WAGE REAL WAGES REMITTANCES RETURN MIGRATION RURAL AREAS SCREENING SERVICE DELIVERY SKILLED EMPLOYEES SKILLED WORKERS SUBSTITUTION EFFECT SURGEONS SURVIVAL PROBABILITY SURVIVAL RATE TOTAL WAGES TRADE LIBERALIZATION TRAINING INSTITUTIONS TREATMENT UNEMPLOYMENT URBAN AREAS WAGE DATA WAGE DIFFERENTIALS WAGE GAP WAGE INCREASE WAGE INCREASES WAGE LEVELS WAGE STRUCTURE WORKER WORKERS WORKFORCE WORKFORCE PLANNING WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION YOUNG WORKERS YOUNGER WORKERS Can governments in developing countries retain skilled health workers by raising public sector wages? The author investigates this question using sudden, policy-induced wage variation, in which the Government of Ghana restructured the pay scale for government health workers. The author find that a ten percent increase in wages decreases annual attrition from the public payroll by 1.5 percentage points (from a mean of eight percentage points) among 20-35 year-old workers from professions that tend to migrate. As a result, the ten-year survival probability for these health workers increases from 0.43 to 0.52. The effects are concentrated among these young workers, and we do not detect effects among older workers or among categories of workers that do not tend to migrate. Given Ghana's context as a major source of skilled health professional migrants and high correlation of our attrition measure with aggregate migration, the author interpret these results as evidence that wage increases in Ghana improve retention mainly through reducing international migration. 2013-05-28T20:08:49Z 2013-05-28T20:08:49Z 2012-02 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2012/02/16280503/wages-health-worker-retention-ghana-evidence-public-sector-wage-reforms http://hdl.handle.net/10986/13581 English en_US Health, Nutrition and Population (HNP) discussion paper; CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Working Paper Publications & Research Africa Ghana |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English en_US |
| topic |
ATTRITION BARGAINING BARGAINING POWER BRAIN BRAIN DRAIN COMMUNITY HEALTH DENTISTS DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DIETICIANS DRIVERS EARLY RETIREMENT ECONOMICS EMPLOYEE EXPECTED WAGES FAMILIES GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOVERNMENT HEALTH WORKERS HAZARD HEALTH CARE HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS HEALTH EFFECTS HEALTH OUTCOMES HEALTH POLICY HEALTH SECTOR HEALTH SERVICES HEALTH SYSTEM HEALTH SYSTEMS HEALTH WORKERS HEALTH WORKFORCE HIV HOSPITALS HUMAN DEVELOPMENT HUMAN RESOURCE HUMAN RESOURCE STRATEGIES HUMAN RESOURCES HUMAN RIGHTS HUMAN RIGHTS OF MIGRANTS IMMIGRANTS IMMIGRATION INCOME INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS INSURANCE INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION JOB PLACEMENT JOB SEARCH JOBS JOURNAL OF MEDICINE LABOR MARKET LABOR MARKET CONDITIONS LABOR MIGRATION LABOR SUPPLY LABOR UNION LABOUR LABOUR FORCE MARGINAL VALUE MEDICAL OFFICER MEDICAL OFFICERS MEDICAL SCHOOL MIDWIVES MIGRANT MIGRANTS MIGRATION MIGRATION DATA MIGRATION FLOWS MILITARY MEDICINE MINISTRY OF HEALTH MINORITY NATIONAL STRATEGIES NEGATIVE EFFECTS NEWSLETTER NOMINAL WAGES NURSE NURSES NURSING NUTRITION OCCUPATION OCCUPATIONAL CLASSIFICATION OCCUPATIONS OLDER WORKERS PENSIONS PHYSICIANS PHYSIOTHERAPISTS POLICY CHANGE POLICY MAKERS POLICY RESEARCH POLICY RESPONSE POTENTIAL MIGRANTS PRACTITIONERS PREVALENCE PRIVATE SECTOR PROGRESS PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT PUBLIC HEALTH PUBLIC POLICY PUBLIC SERVICE PURCHASING POWER REAL WAGE REAL WAGES REMITTANCES RETURN MIGRATION RURAL AREAS SCREENING SERVICE DELIVERY SKILLED EMPLOYEES SKILLED WORKERS SUBSTITUTION EFFECT SURGEONS SURVIVAL PROBABILITY SURVIVAL RATE TOTAL WAGES TRADE LIBERALIZATION TRAINING INSTITUTIONS TREATMENT UNEMPLOYMENT URBAN AREAS WAGE DATA WAGE DIFFERENTIALS WAGE GAP WAGE INCREASE WAGE INCREASES WAGE LEVELS WAGE STRUCTURE WORKER WORKERS WORKFORCE WORKFORCE PLANNING WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION YOUNG WORKERS YOUNGER WORKERS |
| spellingShingle |
ATTRITION BARGAINING BARGAINING POWER BRAIN BRAIN DRAIN COMMUNITY HEALTH DENTISTS DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DIETICIANS DRIVERS EARLY RETIREMENT ECONOMICS EMPLOYEE EXPECTED WAGES FAMILIES GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOVERNMENT HEALTH WORKERS HAZARD HEALTH CARE HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS HEALTH EFFECTS HEALTH OUTCOMES HEALTH POLICY HEALTH SECTOR HEALTH SERVICES HEALTH SYSTEM HEALTH SYSTEMS HEALTH WORKERS HEALTH WORKFORCE HIV HOSPITALS HUMAN DEVELOPMENT HUMAN RESOURCE HUMAN RESOURCE STRATEGIES HUMAN RESOURCES HUMAN RIGHTS HUMAN RIGHTS OF MIGRANTS IMMIGRANTS IMMIGRATION INCOME INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS INSURANCE INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION JOB PLACEMENT JOB SEARCH JOBS JOURNAL OF MEDICINE LABOR MARKET LABOR MARKET CONDITIONS LABOR MIGRATION LABOR SUPPLY LABOR UNION LABOUR LABOUR FORCE MARGINAL VALUE MEDICAL OFFICER MEDICAL OFFICERS MEDICAL SCHOOL MIDWIVES MIGRANT MIGRANTS MIGRATION MIGRATION DATA MIGRATION FLOWS MILITARY MEDICINE MINISTRY OF HEALTH MINORITY NATIONAL STRATEGIES NEGATIVE EFFECTS NEWSLETTER NOMINAL WAGES NURSE NURSES NURSING NUTRITION OCCUPATION OCCUPATIONAL CLASSIFICATION OCCUPATIONS OLDER WORKERS PENSIONS PHYSICIANS PHYSIOTHERAPISTS POLICY CHANGE POLICY MAKERS POLICY RESEARCH POLICY RESPONSE POTENTIAL MIGRANTS PRACTITIONERS PREVALENCE PRIVATE SECTOR PROGRESS PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT PUBLIC HEALTH PUBLIC POLICY PUBLIC SERVICE PURCHASING POWER REAL WAGE REAL WAGES REMITTANCES RETURN MIGRATION RURAL AREAS SCREENING SERVICE DELIVERY SKILLED EMPLOYEES SKILLED WORKERS SUBSTITUTION EFFECT SURGEONS SURVIVAL PROBABILITY SURVIVAL RATE TOTAL WAGES TRADE LIBERALIZATION TRAINING INSTITUTIONS TREATMENT UNEMPLOYMENT URBAN AREAS WAGE DATA WAGE DIFFERENTIALS WAGE GAP WAGE INCREASE WAGE INCREASES WAGE LEVELS WAGE STRUCTURE WORKER WORKERS WORKFORCE WORKFORCE PLANNING WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION YOUNG WORKERS YOUNGER WORKERS Antwi, James Phillips, David Wages and Health Worker Retention in Ghana : Evidence from Public Sector Wage Reforms |
| geographic_facet |
Africa Ghana |
| relation |
Health, Nutrition and Population (HNP)
discussion paper; |
| description |
Can governments in developing countries
retain skilled health workers by raising public sector
wages? The author investigates this question using sudden,
policy-induced wage variation, in which the Government of
Ghana restructured the pay scale for government health
workers. The author find that a ten percent increase in
wages decreases annual attrition from the public payroll by
1.5 percentage points (from a mean of eight percentage
points) among 20-35 year-old workers from professions that
tend to migrate. As a result, the ten-year survival
probability for these health workers increases from 0.43 to
0.52. The effects are concentrated among these young
workers, and we do not detect effects among older workers or
among categories of workers that do not tend to migrate.
Given Ghana's context as a major source of skilled
health professional migrants and high correlation of our
attrition measure with aggregate migration, the author
interpret these results as evidence that wage increases in
Ghana improve retention mainly through reducing
international migration. |
| format |
Publications & Research :: Working Paper |
| author |
Antwi, James Phillips, David |
| author_facet |
Antwi, James Phillips, David |
| author_sort |
Antwi, James |
| title |
Wages and Health Worker Retention in Ghana : Evidence from Public Sector Wage Reforms |
| title_short |
Wages and Health Worker Retention in Ghana : Evidence from Public Sector Wage Reforms |
| title_full |
Wages and Health Worker Retention in Ghana : Evidence from Public Sector Wage Reforms |
| title_fullStr |
Wages and Health Worker Retention in Ghana : Evidence from Public Sector Wage Reforms |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Wages and Health Worker Retention in Ghana : Evidence from Public Sector Wage Reforms |
| title_sort |
wages and health worker retention in ghana : evidence from public sector wage reforms |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2013 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2012/02/16280503/wages-health-worker-retention-ghana-evidence-public-sector-wage-reforms http://hdl.handle.net/10986/13581 |
| _version_ |
1764423805217800192 |