The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) today released its 2015 AVMA Report on Veterinary Capacity.
The fifth installment of the AVMA’s six-part 2015 Veterinary Economic Report series, the report focuses on the capacity of the market for veterinary services.
Are there too many veterinarians? Some in the profession think so. But if you take a closer look at the numbers, that’s not necessarily the case. In fact, the AVMA takes the position that there are not too many veterinarians in the workforce. What the U.S. veterinary profession is experiencing is a situation of excess capacity, in which a certain percentage of veterinarians’ capacity to provide services is going unused. Excess capacity means that services are being provided in excess of the quantity demanded at a specific price.
“The concept of excess capacity is new to the veterinary profession, having been first introduced in the 2013 AVMA Workforce Study,” said AVMA Economics Director Michael Dicks, Ph.D. “The confusion over the difference between an oversupply of veterinarians and excess capacity continues to linger in the profession. The difference between the two is the use of price in determining what excess capacity is versus oversupply.”
The report series is designed to help veterinarians better understand the markets they operate in and the factors that affect their livelihood. The 2015 AVMA Report on Veterinary Capacity can be purchased online from the AVMA Store as part of the six-installment series, and free summaries of the first five published reports also are available. The price for the series is $249 for AVMA members and $499 for nonmembers. The final report will be available upon publication. The reports and their scheduled publication dates are:
- The AVMA Report on Veterinary Markets (January)
- The AVMA Report on Veterinary Employment (March)
- The AVMA Report on Veterinary Debt and Income (May)
- The AVMA Report on the Market for Veterinarians (July)
- The AVMA Report on Veterinary Capacity (October)
- The AVMA Report on the Market for Veterinary Education (October)
Here’s a brief summary of what each report explores:
- The AVMA Report on Veterinary Markets: Provides data and information about general U.S. economic conditions, the markets for veterinary education, veterinarians and veterinary services, and workforce capacity utilization.
- The AVMA Report on Veterinary Employment: We surveyed veterinarians across the country and across the profession to better understand employment, unemployment and underemployment, as well as the factors affecting each.
- The AVMA Report on Veterinary Debt and Income: This report takes an in-depth look at salaries for new and existing veterinarians and their veterinary education debt load, as well as debt-to-income ratios and the net present value of a veterinary career.
- The AVMA Report on the Market for Veterinarians: Ever wonder about the supply of and demand for veterinarians, what type of work they do and how much they are compensated? This report explores the demographics of the profession.
- The AVMA Report on Veterinary Capacity: This report includes our excess capacity forecast and explores our capacity utilization survey, descriptive statistics for capacity utilization and the factors affecting capacity utilization.
- The AVMA Report on the Market for Veterinary Education: The market for veterinary education is the beginning of the pipeline to the market for veterinary services. This report looks at the types of students applying to veterinary school, and the supply of and demand for veterinary education.
