Market For Veterinarians

It may be of no surprise that most veterinarians work in clinical practice. In the recent AVMA State of the Profession report, the authors noted that the majority of those doctors work treating companion animals. In part two of this series on the AVMA report, let’s take a closer look at the Market for Veterinarians:

• Veterinarian demographics - An estimated 125,465 veterinarians worked in either private or public practice in the U.S. in 2022.
• Gender distribution - Women represented about two-thirds of veterinarians (65%) in 2022.
• Location of U.S. veterinarians - The Southeast U.S. had the highest percentage of veterinarians in 2022, while New England and Rocky Mountain regions had the smallest percentages. In 2022, there was a decline in the number of veterinarians living in urban areas and an increase in veterinarians living in rural areas, which has decreased the share of veterinarians living in suburban areas.
• U.S. employment - In addition to the veterinarian labor force participation rate increasing from 96.9% in 2021 to 98.3% in 2022, the veterinarian employment population ratio also increased. This ratio was also at its lowest in 2021 at 95.1%, and for 2022 was 98.0%.
• U.S. unemployment - The AVMA’s 2022 Census of Veterinarians showed a 0.5% unemployment rate for veterinarians, down 1.3 percentage points from 2021.
• Compensation - Real mean professional income reported in 2022 for 2021 was $125,134, which is following a trend of increasing salary, but the report states it is still not to the same level as before the 2008 recession.
• Other benefits - Less frequently reported benefits in 2022 included personal use of vehicle, informal profit-sharing plan, pension plan, pet insurance, educational loan repayment, gym membership, childcare/daycare, and housing assistance.
• Hours worked per week - Veterinarians report working more hours in recent years. In 2019, veterinarians worked an average of 41.9 hours per week, 43.9 hours per week in 2020, 45.6 hours per week in 2021, and 44.3 hours per week in 2022.
• Other concerns – In addition to long weeks, veterinarians reportedly are concerned about their overall well-being, risk of burnout, and job satisfaction.
• Reasons for leaving - The top reasons for considering leaving the veterinary profession were more focused on lifestyle and managing stress, rather than compensation. Mental health (32%) and lifestyle and number of work hours required (17%) were the most cited reasons in 2022.

Do you find yourself with open positions at your practice and don’t know where to begin to find the right associate to add to your staff? Allow me the opportunity to explain how my team has earned a 88% success rate in presenting quality candidates to our clients within the first 90 days of the recruitment process. I look forward to hearing from you.