The income gulf: GPs vs other specialists

The gap between GP earnings and those of other specialists has grown to more than $70 per hour.

And the latest figures from the MABEL (Medicine in Australia: Balancing Employment and Life) survey show general practice remains the lowest earning specialty in Australia by a wide margin. 

GPs generated, on average, an hourly income of $101 per hour in 2018, an increase of $1 in five years when adjusted for inflation.

This figure is before tax but after practice costs.

And GPs in the lowest quartile earned less than $77.

Each year MABEL researchers, based at Melbourne University’s Melbourne Institute, survey more than 8000 doctors.

Based on their findings, we list the hourly income figures by individual specialty below.

Opthalmologists, orthopaedic surgeons and radiologists sit at the top of the list.

The top 25% of opthalmologists were earning at least $456 per hour through 2018 — again, before tax but after practice costs.

Below we show the overall annual income figures.

Obviously the numbers don’t factor in weekly hours worked. But they do show the wide gulf between GPs and other specialists. 

Here are the hours worked figures: the trend of reduced working hours continued for both GPs and other specialists, with GPs typically working 37 hours per week in 2018.