Melissa Chan’s article is a must-read for all animal health pros. The call to action is clear.
Pet owners are diverse, but veterinarians are overwhelmingly white.
Veterinarians are projected to be among the most in-demand workers in the next decade. Yet ,pet lovers are faced with a predominantly white world once it’s time to see a vet. Of the more than 104,000 veterinarians in the nation, nearly 90 percent are white, fewer than 2 percent are Hispanic and almost none are Black, according to 2019 BLS figures.
Source: TIME, October 21, 2020. Link. As more people of all races own pets, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts jobs for vets and vet technicians will grow 16% by 2029. Nearly 65% of white households have pets, 61% of Hispanic households have pets, and almost 37% of Black households have pets, according to the most recent industry data.