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

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 di erence 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 e ective policies. The results show salient gender di erence. 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 di erence 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.