The challenge
The employment decisions of Doctors are shaped by a mix of personal factors (like family and lifestyle), professional culture, and broader policy settings, including Medicare rebates, rural incentive packages, and training opportunities. Understanding these influences is critical for ensuring a sustainable and effective workforce. Healthcare is Australia’s largest employer and accounts for more than 10% of GDP. Yet challenges remain: shortages in rural and remote areas, oversupply in cities, increasing specialisation, and wellbeing issues among doctors. Without a motivated, well-distributed workforce, even the best medical innovations won’t reach their full potential.
The research
From 2008 to 2018, The Medicine in Australia: Balancing Employment and Life (MABEL) survey tracked how doctors make key decisions about their work—such as how many hours to work, where to practise, which speciality to pursue, and when to take leave or retire. MABEL investigated the drivers behind where, how, and why doctors worked, covering issues like speciality choice, sector balance (public vs private), and the impact of family circumstances.
The impact
By providing rigorous, long-term evidence, MABEL helps policymakers, educators, and health services make smarter decisions to improve access to care, reduce costs, and deliver better health outcomes for all Australians. Policymakers have used MABEL’s evidence to test “what if” scenarios—for example, how changes to Medicare rebates or rural incentive schemes might have influenced where doctors chose to work.
Researchers can apply to access and learn how to use MABEL data.
Chief Investigators
Melbourne Institute: Anthony Scott, Guyonne Kalb
Monash University: John Humphreys
The University of Queensland: Matthew McGrail
Acknowledgements
We thank all doctors who generously provided their time to participate in the MABEL survey.
Funding for MABEL was provided by the National Health and Medical Research Council (2007 to 2016: 454799 and 1019605); the Australian Department of Health and Ageing (2008); Health Workforce Australia (2013); The University of Melbourne, Medibank Better Health Foundation, the NSW Department of Health, and the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services (2017); and the Australian Government Department of Health, the Australian Digital Health Agency, and the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services (2018). The study was approved by The University of Melbourne Faculty of Business and Economics Human Ethics Advisory Group (Ref. 0709559) and the Monash University Standing Committee on Ethics in Research Involving Humans (Ref: 195535 CF07/1102 – 2007000291).
Learn more
Dive into our archives to recap our MABEL publications, policy briefs, media and more.