Specialty Choice and Labor Market Outcomes of Foreign Medical Graduates

Abstract

I analyze the labor market outcome of foreign medical graduates (FMGs) in the US. I look at the institutional bottlenecks these physicians face to enter the US and its impact on their labor market outcome. I use the Community Tracking Survey’s Physician survey data to compare earnings of the two groups of physicians using regression analysis. My analysis shows the importance of specialty sorting in determining the income profile of a physician, and in particular the reason for the higher likelihood of FMGs to be in primary care specialty and the resulting lower earnings for a FMG.