Number of male nurses triple; average pay: $60,700/yr. Female nurse average pay: $51,100. [View all]

"A new study from the United States Census Bureau reports the number of male nurses has more than tripled since the 1970s. Back then, about 2.7 percent of registered nurses were men. The new study, which tracked data through 2011, finds that men now make up 9.6 percent of all employed nurses in the United States - about 330,000 men in total.
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Speaking of wages, the report found male nurses on average make more money than their female counterparts. Full-time female nurses who work year-round earned 91 cents for every dollar male nurses earned. That's still less than the gap across other occupations, according to the report, where women earned 77 cents to the dollar men earned.

Men were found to be more likely to become nurse anesthetists, which is the highest paid nursing occupation, and were found least likely to become licensed practical or licensed vocational nurses, the lowest paid types of nursing. Nurse anesthetists are required to get graduate education, and are certified to give anesthesia and monitor patients recovering from anesthesia. Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses provide patient care and may work under the supervision of a registered nurse. Registered nurses assess patient health problems and needs, develop and implement nursing care plans, maintain medical records, and administer care.

For all types of nursing, men earned, on average, $60,700 per year, while women earned $51,100 per year."

"Even among men and women in the same nursing occupations, men outearn women," wrote the report's author, Liana Christin Landivar of the U.S. Census Bureau.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57571330/number-of-male-u.s-nurses-triple-since-1970/