Here are five statistics on employment of young physicians based on the Medscape Young Physicians Compensation Report 2016.
1. Fifteen percent of specialist physicians under 40 years old are self-employed, compared to 41 percent of specialist physicians who are over 40; 85 percent of specialists under 40 are employed.
2. Twelve percent of primary care physicians under 40 years old are self-employed while 34 percent of primary care physicians older than 40 are independent; 88 percent of primary care physicians under 40 are employed.
3. Compensation for employed physicians under 40 is $195,000 on average; self-employed physicians under 40 report $294,000 average annual compensation.
4. Around 14 percent of physicians under 40 are participating in health insurance exchanges, slightly lower than the 17 percent of physicians over 40 who are participating. Most — 70 percent — of the young physicians reported the exchanges don’t impact their income; 18 percent said income decreased and 12 percent reported income increases.
5. Sixty percent of physicians under 40 years old said they would choose a career in medicine if they were to do it all over again, but only 25 percent said they would choose the same practice setting.