New Analysis Shows Large Pay Gap, More Stress for Women Healthcare Workers

Sarasota, FL (WorkersCompensation.com) – In 2021, the gender pay gap for physicians was 28.2 percent, equating to $122,000 difference in annual salary according to the newly released 2021 Physician Compensation Report from Doximity. The average annual salary for male physicians in 2021 was $435,315, and the average salary for women physicians was $312,571. Over the course of a career, Doximity estimates that female physicians will have earned $2 million less than male physicians.

The top five cities with the highest compensation for women physicians included Minneapolis, Sacramento, Tampa, Buffalo, and Charlotte. The cities with lowest compensation rates for women physicians included Baltimore, Louisville, Memphis, Providence, and Birmingham.

The specialties with the largest pay gap included Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Allergy and Immunology.

 Otolaryngology, Pediatric Nephrology, and Thoracic Surgery. The specialties with the lowest pay gap included several Pediatric subspecialties included Rheumatology, Infectious Disease, Allergy and Immunology, Hematology and Oncology. Adult Hematology was also a specialty with the smallest pay gap for women.

Although not as large, a gender pay gap was also noted for Advanced Practice Providers (APPs) this last year. The gender pay gap for Nurse Practitioners this past year was 9.6 percent, equating to $12,292 difference in annual salary. For Physician Assistants, the gender pay gap was slightly higher at 11 percent, resulting in a difference of $14,646 in annual salary.

This last year has seen a large shift in retirement of healthcare providers across the board. According to the Doximity report, a survey of 2,000 providers revealed that 75 percent felt they were overworked, and half were considering an employment change. In fact, 1 in 5 healthcare workers have quit their jobs since the start of the pandemic, according to an October report from Morning Consult.

When asked if they were overworked, only 19 percent of female physicians and 27 percent of APPs stated they were not overworked. For males, 32 percent of physicians and 25 percent of APPs stated they were not overworked. Twenty-five percent of female physicians and 20 percent of female APPs state they were considering early retirement due to feeling overworked during the pandemic. Comparatively, 20 percent of male physicians and 21 percent of male APPs were considering early retirement due to feeling stressed.

Overall, 26.7 percent stated they were not overworked, and 23.8 percent stated they were overworked but were not looking for an employment change. Twenty-one percent of the providers polled stated they were considering early retirement due to feeling overworked, 11.9 percent were considering a different career, and 15.8 percent were looking for a new employer.

Taking into consideration that a larger percentage of women providers feel overworked and are paid less, it will be interesting to see how this will impact the numbers of female workers in healthcare in the next couple of years.

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