Have you ever wondered what the odds are that you will have a male nurse? If your guess is “not very likely”, you’re right. However, based on census data just released, the odds are growing every year that your next nurse could be a male.
A US Census study released in February of 2013 shows that the percentage of male nurses to the overall population of nurses has tripled since 1970.
In 1970, the male nurse population comprised 2.7% of the total. In 2011, this figure had jumped to 9.6%. Despite more than tripling in percentage, the total still remains under 10 percent.
A few more items of interest from this study:
- Of the 3.5 million nurses employed in 2011, 3.2 million were female, and about 330,000 were male
- A majority of the nurses worked in hospitals. (64%)
- Male nurses were more likely to be nurse anesthetists than any other discipline. (41%)
- Male nurse anesthetists on average earned more than twice their male nurse counterparts in other nursing disciplines at $162,900 versus $60,700
- Although most nurses worked daytime hours, almost 20% reported working during the evening or overnight.
Another interesting statistic for nurses was the extraordinarily low rates of unemployment. At the high end, unemployment figures were 1.8%, while specialty disciplines, such as nurse practitioners and nurse anesthetists were negligible at 0.8%
With millions more Americans becoming eligible for insurance coverage, the demand in nursing can only grow over the next decade.