At first glance, it seems easy to determine that a medical doctor is paid much more than a lawyer. The Bureau of Labor Statistics
The Bureau of Labor Statistics is a unit of the United States Department of Labor. It is the principal fact-finding agency for the U.S. government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics and serves as a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System. The BLS is a …
Certainly every lawyer or doctor is probably in a unique situation where the pay scale can vary. It is true as well that different medical and legal fields can have their own unique averages. However, on average, the data shows that doctors make more than lawyers. To the surprise of some, the reality is that the discrepancy is not even close.
Other factors, including specialties, make a difference, too, with some types of doctors earning hundreds of thousands of dollars more than others, and the same is true for different types of lawyers. But one thing is certain; when you have to go to one or the other, they both take a lot out of y_our_ paycheck.
To see a Lawyer than Doctor, unless you are in some legal trouble. In a small town everyone has a relationship with the Doctor, with lawyers the only ones who have a relationship are judges,DA’s and cops. Plus a Doctor can do something. He or she can set a broken leg, remove an appendix and prescribe antibiotics.
Estate attorneys used to rank higher on the list while compensation for IP attorneys has surged in recent years due to high demand. Different sources, however, list other figures for various specializations. Some of the discrepancies may be due to factors previously discussed. Terminology can also be problematic.
Others might not be scientifically minded at all, but they enjoy the law, and so law school is an easy choice. But for some individuals, they might have an affinity for both. They might reasonably have the ability to be a good doctor or a good lawyer.
There is something about medical or law school that attracts many individuals to contemplate one career or the other. Obviously, the decision is relatively easy for many individuals. Some are scientifically or medically minded such that medical school is the easy choice. Others might not be scientifically minded at all, but they enjoy the law, ...
They might not have looked at the data on average salaries before making this decision. Student loan debt is also another significant issue for law school graduates.
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As a general rule, doctors earn the highest salaries in the country. Anesthesiologists are the top earners with an annual mean wage of $232,800, while surgeons are in second place with $230,540. Obstetricians and gynecologists make $216,760, while oral and maxillofacial surgeons are the highest paid dental surgeons at $216,440.
At $147,470, petroleum engineers are the highest paid engineers, ranking 16th out of the top twenty highest salaries. However, they are the only engineers in the top twenty. Nuclear engineers are a distant second with $107,140, while aerospace engineers are the third highest engineering specialists, earning $104,810 annually.
Lawyers barely made the list of the top twenty salaries in the country. At $130,880, they were in 19th place. They are paid less than most doctors, but more than all of the engineers – except petroleum engineers.
The educational requirement for doctors is a medical degree and three to eight years of residencies and internships, depending on the specialty area. Lawyers must complete three years of law school to earn a Juris Doctor (J.D.). Engineers need a bachelor’s degree in their specialty area.
The BLS projects a 24-percent increase in demand for physicians and surgeons through 2020, which is faster than the 14-percent average growth rate predicted for other U.S. occupations. However, the demand for lawyers is only projected to increase by 10 percent through 2020. The job outlook for engineers varies by specialty.
You can earn a lot of money as a technologist, especially if you specialize in a highly sought-after skill set such as machine learning or artificial intelligence (A.I.). But even with skills and experience, how does a technologist’s salary match up against that of a lawyer, doctor, or even someone in finance?
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Doctors can be seen as more respected because their job is as a whole, to save lives and cure the sick. That does not mean we should alienate lawyers, as they ensure justice.
Some lawyers do. The lawyers who enjoy the most prestige are, typically, lawyers who work for firms ranked by the American Lawyer, the so-called “AmLaw 100.”. AmLaw 100 lawyers generally earned good grades at good schools, earn high base salaries on day one, and got hard-to-get jobs.
Lawyer is still a “learned profession,” meaning , you have to go to college, then go to law school, and then pass an exam to become a practicing lawyer. Lawyers, like doctors, are required to have doctoral degrees. Financial careers, engineering, accounting, and business, for example, do not require advanced degrees.
Lawyers, like doctors, are required to have doctoral degrees. Financial careers, engineering, accounting, and business, for example, do not require advanced degrees. However, prestige among lawyers varies widely. Many lawyers do not enjoy prestige. Some lawyers do.
Doctors just do their work and go on about their business. Lawyers pretty much do the same. No one worries about who has more prestige. In fact, if a lawyer worried about how much prestige he had, or claimed he had more than someone else, I would never hire that lawyer to work for me.
So, on average, medicine is a better, more prestigious career than law, involves helping people, and often attracts empathic individuals whereas with law this is certainly less the case. The top lawyers tend to make a lot more money than the top doctors but that is not the same as ‘prestige’, or certainly not in the UK.
Entry requirements for Medicine are much higher in the UK due to the limited number of places, whereas there are lots of law courses, some more prestigious than others. Once qualified as a medic , you get a job as a doctor, whereas only about 50% of law graduates manage to get training contracts.