I am looking for data comparing the mean or median annual 
salary (or income or earnings, whatever the term) for US physicians
vs. the mean or median for the average
US worker over the past few decades(I don't care which is 
used, mean or median, but the use should be consistent across the two 
populations).  The answer would be a table with two sets of 
data points (one for docs and one for All US workers) and could be by 
year (preferred) or  by decade (1940, 1950, 1960....2000).  Would 
prefer data back to 1940s, but starting in 1950s or even 1960 is OK. 
Sources for the two data sets can and probably will be different, but
both should be viewed as unbiased and
"reliable."  The ideal "physician" data would be the aggregate
of all specialties, but if data came by specialty instead, please
contact and discuss.  If possible, the figures should be adjusted for
inflation.  And just a curiosity, but I've had the question out there
for a while--is it a hard question to answer?  I seem no have no
nibbles at all.

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Request for Question Clarification by answerguru-ga on 07 Nov 2003 16:44 PST

Hi there,

I was able to find this information for you (annual figures) in terms
ofhourly wage of physicians vs. all workers between 1997-2003. If this
is of value to you please let me know and I can either post it as an
answer or you can post another question for me (in case another
researcher is able to answer this question).

Thanks,
answerguru-ga

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Clarification of Question by gkbratch-ga on 08 Nov 2003 15:59 PST

Thanks for the attempt to answer this question--but the info you found
isn't what i was looking for, really.  The main thing I am trying to
show is the divergence of physician salaries from the avg. US salary
over time, and thus need data going farther back, to the 50s or at the
latest, the early 60s.  I am trying to re-create a chart i once saw,
so I know the shape of the curves and that the data are out there, but
I can't find the report the original chart was in, and thus can't
really re-create the chart.  So, while annual salary was what I was
looking for, your hourly wage data MIGHT be of help, but would need it
going farther back in time.  The AMA has a publication that goes to
the 80s, but again, that's not far enough back.  Does your data go
farther back?

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Request for Question Clarification by answerguru-ga on 08 Nov 2003 16:09 PST

I'm sure that data is out there - but it may only be available at a
cost. The information I mentioned was freely available and only went
back to 1997.

answerguru-ga

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Clarification of Question by gkbratch-ga on 10 Nov 2003 06:26 PST

Thanks for trying--if you do stumble upon a paid source, let me know
and we could negotiate a different price to reflect the data's cost.

Gkbratch --

The reason that this question is relatively difficult to answer is
that data are available from a number of sources.  Several of them are
readily available at good public libraries -- but not readily
available on the Internet.  (We'll change some of that with this
answer.)

First, recent data, available at least back to 1985 and up to 1998 is
available in the Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2002. 
Increasingly the U.S. Department of Commerce has had trade groups
tracking income and employment information and the details come from
the American Medical Association study, "Socioeconomic Characteristics
of Medical Practice."  Not all years have the same tables, but you can
find 1985-1997 in Table 190 (Health and Nutrition section) of the 2001
Statistical Abstract here.  I can't explain why the print 2002
Statistical Abstract is in my library but not online yet:
U.S. Census Bureau
2001 Statistical Abstract, "Health and Nutrition"
http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/statab/sec03.pdf

Note too, that the AMA data includes breakdowns of median income by
specialty from 1985 onwards with median numbers for GPs, internal
medicine, surgery, pediatrics and OB/GYN.

The 2nd document that you'll want apparently isn't available online,
though it's available at many libraries and in a CD-ROM version:
Historical  Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970,
volume 1.  There are actually two volumes in print by the Bureau of
Census but the first volume contains all of the physicians' income and
worker income data.  It is important to read the assumptions made and
the source of the studies in order to understand price deflators and
details.  Here's a description of this statistical abstract, which is
available at my local library.  There's a page that specifically lists
the source of the physicians surveys:
Columbia University Library
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/libraries/indexes/historical-stats.html

In this volume you'll want Series D913-926 for median income of
physicians; series D739-764 for a variety of industries.  Numbers are
MEDIAN numbers in all cases but again you'll want to examine
assumptions for an accurate comparison.  For example, in the
Statistical Abstract numbers from 1990 onward, data is presented not
in annual earnings but in "median weekly earnings."  I've multiplied
by 52 (not 50) to get an annual number.

So those are the data sources.  Here's where I've summarized the data for you:
http://www.mooneyevents.com/Earnings.xls

I've taken the data and arranged it in a spreadsheet, which should be
viewable with any browser, even if you don't have Microsoft Excel. 
There is no physician data before 1929; after 1936 the income numbers
are available at least once in every 8 years.

Google search strategy:
Local public library, Statistical Abstract

Also, using Google, you'll quickly get to the Census Bureau page which
has statistical abstracts for the past 7 years online:
"Statistical Abstract of the United States"

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

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Request for Answer Clarification by gkbratch-ga on 10 Nov 2003 13:47 PST

Thank you very much for the information--thank god for the good old
paper based library.  I have a couple of questions/requests.  First,
there's a big gap between 1970 and 1985 where the divergence begins--I
understand the date limitations of the sources you cited, but is there
any other source that might fill-in some years in that gap?  Second,
the data on the subdivisions of the other labor categories is
interessting, but it doesn't allow me to get to a discrete,
all-encompasing sat of figures representing all US workers (which I
guess, by definition, includes docs, too). I imagine that's just
another column on the sources already cited--could I get that?

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Clarification of Answer by omnivorous-ga on 10 Nov 2003 14:05 PST

Gkbratch --

Let me check the sources to see if there's an aggregate anywhere in
the Bicentennial edition.  In my desk copy of the 1998 Statistical
Abstract there's a chart for "Full-time Wage and Salary Workers" and
earnings from 1983-1994.  The chart is broken down by occupation,
industry, sex, race, age and a number of other factors.  However, here
are the stats for earnings in each of the years (and I've multiplied
weekly numbers here by 52 to get an annualized number):

1983: $16,276
1985: $17,836
1990: $21,580
1994: $24,284

I didn't check the 2001 Statistical Abstract (the online link) but it
could well add a couple of years.  I will go check the Bicentennial
edition of the Statistical Abstract.

To get the intervening years (1970-1985), I think the best bet is to
find a library with the 1980-1990 Statistical Abstract.  I don't have
easy access to one here in this library district but a good research
library (particularly a university business school or a federal
depository library) would have the intervening years.

I'll get back to you today on whether or not there's some aggregate
data in Historical  Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to
1970,
volume 1.

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

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Clarification of Answer by omnivorous-ga on 10 Nov 2003 14:54 PST

Gkbratch --

I've found the "overall" averages for all full-time employees, farm
and non-farm.  I've posted them in an updated spreadsheet.

Note that there are no 1998 numbers in the 2001 Statistical Abstract,
only 2000 earnings averages.  I've noted it in the spreadsheet.

You can find the most-recent earnings numbers available online here, in Table 621:
http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/01statab/labor.pdf

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA