Which specialty has the highest unemployment rate?

[Guest milkytooth]

I have heard that pathologists have hard time finding jobs after graduation...

[Guest Ian Wong]

Not at all, as far as I can tell at least in Vancouver. Here, they're having trouble finding pathologists to fill their spaces. My gut hunch is that if Vancouver has difficulty recruiting pathologists, then there's a definite demand around.

 

I can't think of any specialties that are really "unemployable." Of course, this all has to be taken into context. A neurosurgeon is unlikely to find employment in a small town setting, just as a internal medicine generalist/internist is going to have difficulty surviving in Vancouver General Hospital, where all the internal medicine sub-specialists like cardiologists, gastroenterologists, nephrologists, etc hang out.

 

However, I can't think of any specialties at the moment where I would be afraid of not easily finding a job in Canada.

 

Ian

UBC, Med 3

[Guest gucio93]

I recently attended a session on different "career options" within medicine. One of the speakers was a pathologist and she also voiced her concerns about the current shortage of pathologists - this is in Hamilton, Ontario. From my perspective I tend to agree with Ian - if you chose the right setting, you will be able to find a place for yourself no matter which specialty you ultimately decide on.

[Guest ThugJaan]

Not true! I think it depends on one word: Location!

 

The Pathologist that came to UofT did indeed say that their may be a problem in finding a permenant job. In fact, he said that up until recentely, he knew of people that were having some problems finding a job.

[Guest milkytooth MS2]

Hi Ian,

www.ama-assn.org/cgi-bin/...freida.cgi

Here is the link to the AMA. Please choose pathology to view its statistics.

[Guest Ian Wong]

Hi milkytooth,

 

I checked out that link briefly. Thank you for posting it. I'll take some more time to flip through it when school eases down a bit, although the 1998 statistic that immediately leapt into view was that only 12.5% of graduates didn't have employment immediately upon graduation. While that's much higher than the 1% response rate enjoyed by the ENT's (as per the above link), I suspect that after spending some time job searching, that one would be able to find employment. One out of every eight pathologists in the continental US not having a job immediately upon graduation wouldn't scare me that much, especially when there hasn't been a sizeable increase in med school enrollment (and I suspect residency positions) in the past several years. That data will be 10 years old, and the baby boomer generation 10 years later on age (yielding increased disease pathology, and decreased physician numbers) by the time any of us are in clinical pathology practice.

 

It's fair enough on my cursory view that pathology has a much higher unemployment rate than ENT, but I suspect that a hospital-based specialty is going to have more trouble than one where you can simply open an office, get some hospital admitting priviledges, and go for it. I still think though that you shouldn't be dissuaded against pathology based on the numbers you quoted. If you're flexible enough to check out different locations, I'm sure you'll be able to find employment.

 

Ian

UBC, Med 3

[Guest dmdmd]

Here is some data showing the relative job markets of the different specialties and subspecialties. Generally speaking, people in the primary care specialties have the easiest time finding a job. This information is from the most recent survey to appear in JAMA. The reference is JAMA, 280(9):777-83 1998 Sep 2. The unemployment rates for recent graduates during the survey period were:

 

 

 

Specialty Unemployed Comment

 

 

Orthopedic Surgery         1.0        Best

Pulmonary Disease&Crit Care        1.3        Second Best

Emergency Medicine                1.5

Ob/Gyn                                2.1

Otolaryngology                        2.1

Urology                                3.8

Dermatology                        4.7

Family practice                        4.9

Psychiarty                        5.2

Cardiovascular disease                5.7

Hematology/oncology                6.0

Pulmonary disease                6.1

General Surgery                        6.2

Gastroenterology                6.4

Neurology                        6.5

Diagnostic radiology                6.7

Endocrinology                        6.7

Rheumatology                        6.8

Anesthesiology                        7.3

Physical Med and Rehab                7.5

Nephrology                        7.9

Critical Care Medicine                8.0

Plastic Surgery                        9.2

Pediatrics                        9.3

Infectious Disease                10.3

Internal Medicine                11.1

Ophthalmology                        11.6

Oncology                        12.5

Geriatric Medicine                14.3

Pathology - Anatomic&Clinical        14.7        Second Worst

Hematology                        19.0        Worst

[Guest PhantomPhoenix]

Now if someone was unemployed in for example in Radiology...

 

Why wouldn't they go to the States where they can't find any?

 

I think ur only unemployed if ur looking in the wrong place