Female GPs earn 25% less than male counterparts
According to the first study into doctors’ earnings released last month by the Melbourne Institute and Monash University, female GPs earn an average 25% less than their male counterparts.
The surprise finding reveals that the gender income gap is greater for those at the frontline of the medical profession than it is for all of the nation’s full-time adult workers, where average total earnings for women are 20.7% lower than men according to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
“This is something of a mystery,” says Professor Tony Scott, principal investigator for the research project.
“While such differences persist in other occupations, this is particularly difficult to understand in an occupation where men and women have the same high level of education.”
“Our results have adjusted for differences in hours worked, years of experience, and a host of other factors. It could be that female doctors see a different mix of patients than male doctors. We are puzzled and are continuing to look into this.”
The study also found that female specialists were at an earnings disadvantage when compared with males, but the difference was smaller at 16.6%.
The main findings show that the average annual pre-tax personal earnings of GPs and specialists were $177,883 and $316,570 respectively.
They include salaried GPs, and specialists working in both the public and private sectors. Females comprised 44.4% of GPs and 27.5% of specialists. The average weekly hours worked were 39.4 for GPs and 45.1 for specialists, and both worked on average 51.6 weeks each year.
The ground-breaking paper – What Factors Influence the Earnings of GPs and Medical Specialists in Australia? – is based on analysis of data collected through a comprehensive national longitudinal survey of doctors called Medicine in Australia: Balancing Employment and Life (MABEL).
