Salient Gender Difference in the Wage Elasticity of General Practitioners' Labour Supply

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed a growing proportion of female general practitioners (GPs) worldwide. Because female GPs tend to work fewer hours than male GPs, this continuing trend may accelerate the shortage of GPs. This paper investigates the gender difference in the wage elasticity of Australian GPs by maximum likelihood estimation of labour supply and wage equations. Quantitative information regarding the labour supply responses of GPs is vital in designing effective policies. The results show salient gender difference. An increase in hourly wage increases the labour supply of male GPs and reduces the labour supply of female GPs, resulting in an enlarged gender difference in labour supply. The results also suggest that family factors still remain a key driving force of the reduced labour supply of Australian female GPs.

Keywords: General Practitioners, female labour supply, gender gap, wage elasticity, income effect

JEL Classification: I11, J31