Specialists Are Still Highly Paid
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as well as an article on InsiderMonkey.com, the following 15 medical specialties earn as much as 8 times the median income for a family of 4 in the U.S. That number in 2013 was just over $51,000. Average annual compensation for 15 of the top specialties is listed in Table 1.
Figure 1. Compensation for various specialties in and out of hospital.
Source: Managed Care Magazine.
Women Earn Significantly Less for the Same Work
As has been observed since the beginning of record keeping, women earn less than men, even when they do the same work. The same phenomenon is easily observed within medical specialties. (See Figure 2.)
A recent report on Medscape.com is rich with statistics on physician incomes. This report reveals than a male plastic surgeon can earn as much as 37% more than a female plastic surgeon doing the same work in the same work context.
Source: Medscape.
European Physicians
According to Medlines (www.medlines.org) “In some cases (Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Slovenia) the minimum doctors’ salaries is equivalent to the average national salary; in Belgium, Denmark, Italy, the Netherland and Slovakia the minimum doctors’ salary is higher than the average salary ; in Austria, Ireland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden and UK, the average salary is placed between the maximum and minimum doctors’ salary ; in some case the maximum doctors’ salary is equal (Greece and Malta) or even lower (Czech Republic and Hungary) than the average national salary.”
Figure 3. Average physician salaries in European countries.*
*All figures in thousands of Euros.
Data source: http://www.liganet.hu/news/6205/F11-071_EN_European_Hospital_Doctors_Salaries.pdf.
Data from 2011.
Another article on Medlines.org reports slightly different numbers for European specialists. In this report, annual salaries range from about $67,000 in Greece to more than $250,000 in the Netherlands.
