Across the whole profession, they definitely earn more per hour. I'm sure some superstar engineers or AI people blow them out of the water with equity and whatnot, but you can't find a more consistently high paying field.
My dental surgeon was recently paid $650 to remove a wisdom tooth, which took him and 1 nurse a total of 5 minutes. Even if you assume 75% of that is overhead, that is still $170 per hour and he immediately went on to see other patients.
What about all the training they need? Maybe they make more per hour, and more per year, but also work fewer years because they have to study, or work for cheap, for a long time before they reach their top earning potential.
I googled for life time earnings by profession and found this document by the US census bureau that makes it seem like they earn similarly (and engineers make a bit more), but they mix nurses and technicians together with doctors and surgeons.
