Discussion Papers,
Statistics Norway, Research Department

Abstract: Shortage of skilled healthcare workers is a global challenge. In this paper, we study applicants to Norwegian nursing programs. Mapping out their educational and employment trajectories, we find that a substantial share of admitted applicants never complete nursing or work as nurses, but also that many rejected applicants reapply and complete later. Thus, the effect of admitting an applicant on the applicant's completion or labor supply as a nurse is much smaller than one-to-one. Using admission discontinuities, we study the heterogeneous effects of admission on enrollment, completion, and subsequent labor market outcomes. We find indications that the effect of admission is smaller for men than for women, highlighting a possible conflict between the goals of more nurses and gender balance in nursing.

Keywords: Nurse education; college admission; heterogeneous effects; RDD

JEL-codes: I18; I23; I28; J2

30 pages, April 2025

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