Impacts of COVID-19 on Physician Labour Market Activities

Understanding physicians' labour supply changes during the COVID-19 pandemic informs health workforce planning. Using representative Canadian data, we observed a reduction in work hours during the first wave. However, hours did not differ from pre-pandemic norms throughout subsequent phases. Reductions were concentrated among community-based family practitioners and specialists, whereas hospital-based physicians, on average, maintained their pre-pandemic hours. Notably, men and women exhibited statistically indistinguishable declines, with a slightly larger reduction observed among men. Except for single parents with children, whose hours did not decline, observed reductions were very similar across marital status and for women and men with and without children, even young children. There were no differences in hour declines by immigration status. Physicians aged older than 60 years experienced larger reductions in hours than younger ones. With some variations, similar trends were observed for absences. No evidence supported the notion that physicians were more likely to exit practice during the pandemic.