This paper attempts to place the available information on the nursing shortage in a broader context to improve understanding of some underlying issues. It considers available data on these issues to provide insights into the recurrent nurse shortage for a more rational basis for policy-making. Chapter 1 examines nurses' wages, wage growth, fringe benefits, and labor force participation rates, comparing each of them to similar information on other workers in the United States economy. Using that information, the chapter assesses conflicting interpretations of nurses' wage levels and labor supply behavior. Chapter 2 deals with nurse staffing and vacancies in hospitals; examines the origin and interpretation of data on budgeted vacant positions in hospitals, the most often cited evidence of the nurse shortage; and reviews studies of variations in staffing among hospitals for evidence of effects of shortages on hospital operations. Chapter 3 delves into determinants of the total supply of nurses in terms of factors affecting the annual numbers of entrants to nursing schools. A technical appendix provides information on estimation of starting salaries for registered nurses, regression results of a number of nursing school entrants, and specification error tests. (YLB)