ABSTRACT
Unemployment which had been a problem of less educated and unskilled people has become a problem in most of the countries for even the educated and the skilled persons. Unemployment among physicians in Iran has been the subject of discussion during the past so many years, and its severity, causes and ways of combating it has been a focus of discussions in different circles. It is a mail survey conducted on random sample, sized 5482 physicians, from registered physician roster at the Medical Association of Islamic Republic of Iran. The questionnaire included items on employment and unemployment quality and some related factors. The final analysis is based on the 2789 returned questionnaires. Total unemployment has a point prevalence of 9.4% among Iranian physicians [95% CI: 8.3% - 10.5%]. When summed with physicians with qualitative unemployment, this figure reaches 13.7% [95% CI: 12.4% - 14.9%]. Considering quantitative unemployment, the total ratio reaches 25.5%. Half of the unemployed physicians have seeked jobs for more than a year, and they mostly attribute their failure to low income of medical jobs and limited positions for physicians in the governmental sector. Unemployment, in different forms from total to qualitative and quantitative forms affects from one-tenth to one fourth of Iranian physicians. This problem is not limited to Iran, but has been seen in many other countries, especially those that had increased the strength of their medical students in the past. The solution of this problem needs its accurate identification and factors affecting it or related to it. Solving this problem needs finding its accurate fissure and the related factors