Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Friday, May 14, 1999
Median income falls for U.S. doctors
CHICAGO -- Median net income for doctors dropped 1.2 percent from 1996 to 1997, a decline that continues a four-year trend sparked in part by managed care, according to an American Medical Association survey.Doctors' median net income has fallen 1.4 percent each year since 1993 when adjusted for inflation, according to results of a random nationwide telephone survey of 4,000 physicians conducted last year. The decline in income is due to a variety of economic factors connected to changes in the health care system, according to the survey findings released yesterday.
Doctors' unadjusted income has been virtually flat since 1988, according to the AMA. Median net income fell from $166,000 in 1996 to $164,000 a year later. That means half the physicians surveyed earned more than $164,000 in 1997 and half earned less. The 1997 figure is 3.4 percent lower than the previous year when adjusted for inflation.
Boeing to lay off 7,000 more workers
ST. LOUIS -- Flagging sales of Boeing Co.'s premier F-15 fighter have forced the elimination of up to 7,000 jobs at the company's massive manufacturing plant here and triggered a reorganization meant to strengthen the aerospace company.Officials said the layoffs represent roughly 35 percent of the plant's work force. Most of the cuts, expected to be completed by mid-2001, will come from the ranks of management, but labor officials say 1,600 to 1,800 union members will also lose their jobs. Boeing has previously announced that it planned to eliminate anywhere from 43,000 to 53,000 jobs in coming years. The company said that yesterday's announcement pushes its estimate to the higher end of that range.
In other news . . .
LONDON -- British leisure group Ladbroke Group Plc said today that it plans to sell 13 of the 91 Hilton Hotels Corp. and Stakis Plc properties it recently purchased in Britain. Terms were not disclosed. The gaming and hotel group has annual revenues of about $6.2 billion.