Crunching the data: are resident doctors in England badly paid? | Doctors

Resident doctors in England have voted to strike for five days from 25 July, reigniting one of the NHS’s most bitter industrial disputes.

At the heart of the row is pay: the British Medical Association (BMA) says resident (formerly known as junior) doctors have seen their real earnings fall by more than a quarter since 2008. The government says the union’s demands are unaffordable, and they’ve already received generous rises in recent years.

So are strikes an “unnecessary and unreasonable” move, in the words of the health secretary, Wes Streeting? Or a necessary step on the path to restore doctor’s pay?

Resident doctor pay is still below 2010 levels

After the global financial crisis of 2007-08, pay stagnated across the board in Britain. But resident doctors have had it worse…