The economics of veterinarians in government, industry, and academe.

The average member of the public, when contemplating veterinarians, likely conjures up the image of a doctor in private practice, treating animals both large and small. While many veterinarians do fit this description well, a significant population of DVMs are in careers that vary from this common public image. These fields are typically categorized as Government, Industry, and Academe (GIA). The unique conditions experienced by veterinarians employed in these fields necessitate a distinct exploration of their economic conditions, separate from the general population of practicing veterinarians. Each year, the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) Business Management Program, the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association (OVMA) Business Development Program, and the Canadian Animal Health Institute (CAHI) commission a survey of veterinarians working in Government, Industry and Academe. The 2015 iteration of this survey garnered 220 respondents, a robust sample, allowing conclusions to be drawn with confidence. Veterinarians in GIA earned a median annual compensation that ranged from $87 555 to $128 000, while working a median of 1725 to 2115 annual hours, depending on the sector of employment. Those veterinarians employed in a university/college setting garnered the highest median compensation; however, this also came with the highest median annual hours worked. The largest populations of veterinarians in GIA were employed in industry/pharmaceutical, university/college, and federal and provincial governments (Table 1). Table 1 Median annual compensation and hours worked stratified by sector of employment. NA — not applicable Veterinarians employed in GIA had a very wide breadth of responsibilities within their roles. Technical services, regulatory roles, and teaching were the most common responsibilities; however, nearly all responses had large numbers of GIA veterinarians indicating what was an area of their responsibility. Almost a quarter indicated that their employment carried an “other” type of responsibility, with many specifying that their GIA role involved some clinical practice as a responsibility (Figure 1). Figure 1 Responses to the question “What are your areas of responsibility?” Across all sectors, veterinarians employed in GIA were provided with a median of 4 weeks of vacation. As experience and years within current position increased, the number of weeks vacation increased, with some cohorts receiving a median of 5 or 6 weeks of vacation; however, most GIA veterinarians reported 4 weeks of vacation. The benefits offered to veterinarians in GIA were varied, with some individuals having many benefit costs covered by their employer, while others shared the cost, or did not have a benefit offered at all. Licensing fees was the benefit most commonly paid entirely by a GIA veterinarian’s employer. Employee pension plans had the cost shared between employee and employer most often (Table 3). Table 3 Benefits offered by employers/Avantages sociaux offerts par les employeurs Veterinarians in GIA are similar to their colleagues in private practice with regard to benefits offered to pursue Continuing Education (CE). The majority of GIA veterinarians were offered monetary compensation for CE fees, with a median value of $2000. Most were also provided with time in which to pursue CE, with a median of 5 days off (Table 4). Table 4 Continuing Education benefits offered by employers Dr. Robert Van Delst, National Customer Development Manager with Hill’s Pet Nutrition Canada, expects to see more veterinarians employed in industry within service roles in the years to come. “We welcome veterinarians as they can be running soon after they hit the ground. They already know so much about caring for pets and veterinary practice and they can learn the service part of these roles. We like having veterinary professionals call upon other veterinary professionals.” explains Dr. Van Delst. Overall, a career in government, industry, or academe is competitive to one in private practice, with regard to compensation, hours worked, and benefits offered. The responsibilities may be different from those found in private practice, but many GIA veterinarians reported that clinical practice was a part of their role. This should be encouraging for those veterinarians who may be considering GIA, yet worry that they will lose the hands-on contact with animals that many enjoy. For more information, and the full results of the annual survey, please consult the 2015 Report on Veterinarians Employed in Government, Industry, and Academe. Available from the CVMA website: https://www.canadianveterinarians.net

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