Physician Labor Participation and Unemployment Rate in Iran

Abstract

Background: The behavior of physicians after graduating from universities is very important for policymakers. They want to follow these behaviors to find what happened to physicians after graduation. Increasing in physician labor participation rate and an efficient distribution of them by gender and geographical concerns are crucial decisions of policymakers. Objectives: This study aimed to determine the factors that affect the physician labor supply in Iran. We focused on the presence and absence of medical graduate students in the labor market and we also investigated the changes in labor supply in age groups and the differences in male and female physician labor supply. Moreover, the unemployment rate among physicians was calculated. Patients and Methods: In this study, we used population and census data of Iran in 2011. Data of the graduate medical university students were extracted. Some descriptive statistics like the physician labor participation rate and physician unemployment rate were calculated in this study. Also, a regression model for physician labor supply was estimated. Results: The results of this study showed that the physician labor participation rate and the unemployment rate were 61.6% and 7.8%, respectively. Both of these statistics were better than the overall labor force statistics of the country. The unemployment rate of male physicians was lower than female ones and the labor force participation rate for male physicians was higher than female ones. The results of the labor supply regression showed a positive relationship between age, being male, being married and labor supply. Moreover, a negative relationship was found between continuing the study at universities and physician labor supply. Conclusions: In this study, some additional facts about Iranian physician labor behavior were presented. These results alert policymakers about the decisions in human resource management and play a major role in policy decisions.