By Aine Cryts
Physicians are at the top of the pay scale in the U.S. job market, according to a recent survey by Glassdoor, an online recruiting website.
The median base salary for physicians is $180,000, and the recruiting site currently lists more than 2,000 job openings for physicians, according to the company.
"This report reinforces that high pay continues to be tied to in-demand skills, higher education and working in jobs that are protected from competition or automation," said Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D., chief economist at Glassdoor, in a statement.
Another reason physicians--among others in healthcare--are compensated at current levels is the "urgency of many healthcare scenarios requires snap-decisions or creative solutions to existing medical conditions," Chamberlain told 24/7 Wall St.
Recent trends don't point to dramatic salary increases for physicians in the future, though that depends largely on their specialty. Overall physicians' compensation increased by only 1.8 percent in 2015 over the previous year.
Some good news for primary care physicians: They continue to close the gap with specialists. Primary care physicians earned a 3.4 percent median pay increase between 2014 and 2015, compared with surgeons and other specialists who experienced 2.5 percent and 2.3 percent increases, respectively,as reported by FiercePracticeManagement.
The healthcare industry's increasing embrace of value-based care may be driving this increase in primary care physicians' salaries.
To learn more:
- read the survey
- peruse the article