While they may be considered some of the biggest earners in America, physicians also deal with wage gaps in their own field, according to a new industry report.
Medscape’s annually released Physician Compensation Report for 2017 revealed, for instance, that while male primary care doctors earn $229,000 at an average, their female counterparts earn $197,000. From the previous year, this wage gap already slightly dropped, from 17 percent to 16 percent at present.
Physician Earnings On The Rise
The compensation survey covered over 19,200 doctors across more than 27 specialties. It sought to give over 400,000 U.S. physicians access not only to salary information, but also “important factors affecting income, such as hours worked, time spent with patients, what they find most rewarding — and most challenging — about their jobs, and more.”
The report showed that doctor incomes have been climbing over the last seven years. Average earnings among doctors turned out to be around $294,000, and specialists got around $100,000 more than primary care doctors on average, or $316,000 versus $217,000.
“The major reason for the increase in salaries of recruited physicians is intense competition for doctors,” said Travis Singleton, physician search firm Merritt Hawkins’ senior vice president. “There is competition between hospitals and healthcare systems, and also between urgent care centers, federally qualified health centers, direct care, concierge care, and other delivery systems, which all employ doctors.”
The largest income increases were seen among plastic surgeons and allergists at 24 percent and 16 percent, while the incomes of pediatricians, oncologists, and cardiologists remained virtually unchanged this year.
Gender And Ethnicity Pay Gaps Revealed
Comparing men and women physicians’ average annual salary, the report also found differences from 2016 results.
Among specialists, for example, there was a 37 percent wage gap between male ($345,000) and female ($251,000) average yearly earnings. This specific gap grew 4 percent from 2016, potentially due to smaller percentages of women in higher-paying areas of medical practice.
Income differential between men and women, too, is deemed lower at 18 percent for physicians under age 34, compared to older physicians with 35 percent difference on average.
For the first time, the report also asked its respondents to identify their race. Based on these details, it saw that white doctors earn the most at $303,000, while black doctors earned the least or $262,000. Asian physicians earned $283,000, while Hispanic ones earned $271,000.
More white and Asian physicians also revealed choosing specialization in their field than black and Hispanic physicians.
#20PercentCounts Campaign
In the United States, the average salary of women is 20 percent lower than the paycheck of their male counterparts. This gender pay gap is seen to be even wider when it comes to ethnic minorities, where black women earn 37 percent less while Hispanic women have a 46 percent smaller income.
In honor of Equal Pay Day held on April 4 this year, Facebook COO and LeanIn.org founder Sheryl Sandberg partnered with organizations to launch #20PercentCounts, a campaign offering a 20 percent discount to female shoppers for many of their retail purchases.
The thinking behind the initiative is that since women earn 20 percent less, they should also be charged as such when they go shopping.
