Dive Brief:
- A new study published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine found significant differences in salary exist at 24 U.S. public medical schools.
- The conclusion was made even after controlling for age, experience, specialty, faculty rank, clinical productivity, and clinical revenue.
- In unadjusted analyses, women had lower average salaries ($206,641) than men ($257,957) with an absolute difference in salaries of $51,315, according to the results.
Dive Insight:
Dr. Anupam B. Jena, of Harvard Medical School, and coauthors analyzed salary information data for academic physicians at 24 public medical schools in 12 states using Freedom of Information laws. They combined that data with information on clinical and research productivity.
Boston Business Journal reported the analysis is one of the largest looks into salary data.
After adjusting the earnings for factors mentioned above, the researchers noted an 8% salary difference ($19,878) with average adjusted salaries of $227,783 for women and $247,661 for men. The authors noted that adjusted salaries were highest in orthopedic surgery, surgical subspecialties, and general surgery.
In addition, salaries for female full professors ($250,971) were comparable to those of male associate professors ($247,212), the authors noted.
“More than raising attention to salary sex differences in medicine, our findings highlight the fact that these differences persist even when we account for detailed factors that influence income and reflect academic productivity,” Jena was quoted in the Boston Business Journal.
Unfortunately, these findings are not new so to speak. Wage gaps among men and women in the healthcare industry have been reported in JAMA Internal Medicine before. A 2013 study showed female physicians made $50,000 less than male physicians. The wage gap between male and female physician assistants increased to almost 30% between 2006 and 2010 from only a 7% wage gap between 1987 and 1990.
In addition, 2015 JAMA study found female registered nurses made $5,100 less per year than male nurses.