The supply of nursing labor in French hospitals: Outflows, part-time work and motherhood

This paper quantifies the supply of nursing labor in French hospitals over the course of hospital nurses’ careers, using detailed longitudinal payroll tax data matched with birth certificates and census data. Over the first ten years of their careers, the nursing hours supplied to hospitals decrease by more than a third on average. This decline is primarily driven by hospital nurses leaving these positions, and to a lesser extent by transitions to part-time schedules within hospital nursing jobs. Nurses who leave hospital positions predominantly transition to other jobs, usually within the healthcare sector, rather than to non-employment. These job transitions are mostly unrelated to motherhood, whereas having children frequently leads mothers to switch to part-time schedules within hospital nursing jobs. In fact, without the effect of motherhood, the prevalence of part-time work among hospital nurses would be significantly lower. Finally, while hospitals offset the loss of nursing hours due to unanticipated staff departures by hiring new nurses, they struggle to compensate for nursing hours lost to part-time transitions. • Nursing hours fall by over a third over the first ten years of hospital careers. • The decline stems from exits and, to a lesser extent, transitions to part-time. • Motherhood drives shifts to part-time, not exits or moves to other occupations. • Absent motherhood effects, part-time work would be far less common in hospitals. • Nurse exits are offset via hiring, but part-time losses are poorly compensated.