The large number of Philippine immigrant nurses coincides with the high nurse vacancy rates in the United States. What role does the U.S. nurse demand have in the immigration of Philippine nurses? Is the Philippines producing surplus nurses for export? What influence do U.S. immigration laws have on the immigration of Philippine nurses?.
The dissertation looked into different labor migration theories; second, discussed U.S. immigration laws; third, looked into nursing in the United States and the Philippines and fourth, looked into their interrelationships by using time-series analysis and partial correlations.
The U.S. immigration laws of 1965 gave equal access to non-European immigrants. From 1965 on, most of the immigrants came from Asia, with the Philippines being one of the biggest sources. By 1989, 40% of immigrant nurses to the USA came from Asia, and 70% of the immigrant Asian nurses are from the Philippines.
Research on U.S. nursing reveals that while the total number of U.S. nurses grows, high nurse vacancy rates continue to be a problem. As a strategy, hospitals employed foreign nurse graduates to alleviate high nurse vacancy rates.
Research on Philippine economic, education and health structures shows a growing health sector. The number of Philippine nurses also continues to grow--even when they cannot be absorbed by local structures. Many of these nurses seek foreign jobs.
Long term trends reveal that in spite of high U.S. nurse vacancy rates before 1965, Philippine nurses started to leave for the U.S. in record numbers only after 1965. The 1965 U.S. Immigration law enabled Philippine nurses to respond to U.S. nurse demand.
Partial correlation statistics confirm earlier findings: (1) Active economic activity increases the health budget. (2) Philippine health budget is positively correlated with Philippine nursing schools and hospital beds. (3) The number of Philippine nursing schools is weakly correlated with Philippine immigrant nurses to the United States. (4) The number of Philippine immigrant nurses is negatively correlated with the U.S. nurse vacancy rates and positively correlated with the U.S. nurse-to-population ratio. High nurse to population ratio lowers U.S. nurse vacancy rates. Controlling for Philippine immigrant nurses, the correlation virtually disappears suggesting that the presence of Philippine immigrant nurses raises the U.S. nurse-to-population ratio.