A New Jersey task force advocated expanding the number of advance practice nurses in the state to address its critical shortage of primary care physicians. The New Jersey Council of Teaching Hospitals took this position in a 2012 report.
As highly educated nursing professionals, APNs command a premium for their services. In 2014, they earned 33% more than staff nurses according to the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
There were 2,607 students were enrolled in MSN programs in New Jersey in 2013 according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, many of which were RNs taking advantage of RN-MSN programs in specialty areas of advanced clinical practice, as well as education, leadership and informatics.
About 90% of the 1,684 nursing students preparing to become APNs were training to become nursing practitioners. The rest were studying to become nurse anesthetists, nurse midwives, and clinical nurse specialists.
Comparing APN and Staff Nurse Salaries in New Jersey
MSN-educated APN specialists in New Jersey earned substantially higher wages than staff nurses who typically have BSNs or ADNs. This is apparent from a 2014 wage survey by the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development:
Annual Salaries:
Hourly Wages:
Additional evidence for the difference between the wages of nurses with MSNs in all areas of clinical and nonclinical practice, versus those with BSN degrees comes from a salary survey conducted by the Advance Healthcare Network for Nurses. The results indicated that MSN-educated nurses in New Jersey and other parts of the Mid-Atlantic and lower great lakes region earned an average of $12,293 more than those with BSNs:
- MSN – $81,546
- BSN – $69,253
Nurse Practitioner Salaries in New Jersey’s Metropolitan Areas
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics provides a detailed analysis of the salaries of nurse practitioners in a number of metropolitan areas of New Jersey (2013). It revealed that those professionals in the Ocean City area made 8.1% more than those in the next highest paying city:
Salaries for Nurse Anesthetists in Selected New Jersey Cities
Salary data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the high salaries paid to nurse anesthetists in New Jersey:
*These figures represent hourly wages that are at least $90.00 per hour or annual salaries that are at least $187,199. These are the maximum salaries reported by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics for New Jersey.
Nurse Midwife Salaries in Select Metropolitan Areas of New Jersey
A detailed analysis of the salaries of nurse midwifes in New Jersey’s major cities showed that the average salaries in the Trenton and Camden areas were almost equally high. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics provided this information for 2013: