It Can't Just Be About the Money: How to Assure an Adequate Public Health Workforce

• Published in: American journal of public health (1971) Vol. 114; no. 3; pp. e1 - 266
• Main Authors: Resnick, Beth A, Mui, Paulani C, Maiorana, Ruth
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Public Health Association 01-03-2024
• Subjects: Categories; Classification; Computer assisted research; Correspondence; Employment; Employment interviews; Inequality; Medical personnel; Mental health; Money; Occupations; Personal health; Public health; Public sector; Recruitment; State employees; Statistics; Student debt; Student loans; Technicians; Training; Wages & salaries; Workers; Workforce
• ISSN: 0090-0036; 1541-0048; 1541-0048
• DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2023.307563

In the article by Krasna et al. on salary disparities in public health occupations (p. 329), the authors analyzed 2022 median salary differentials of public health occupation categories in the public and private sectors using Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational and Wage Statistics data. Ten occupation categories, primarily in management, computer, and scientific and research, had disparities of 20% to 46.9%, whereas inspection and compliance, technicians, and clinical occupations had disparities of 10% to 19%. Overall, 30 of 44 occupations examined had public sector salary disparities of at least 5%.Salary disparities emphasize the urgency of rectifying pay inequities in public health occupations. However, many public health positions are governed by state employee pay structures that cannot be changed for only one agency. Given the challenges of Increasing governmental pay just for public health, the findings underscore the need for additional approaches to public health recruitment and retention that are within the public health sector's control. Within the authors' strategy categories, additional approaches are suggested, informed by interviews with public health workers from across the country and public health workforce reports from the field.