Are Pharmacist Salaries Going Down?
Q: Chen, are pharmacist salaries going down?
A: In any kind of job market, salaries are based on the value you provide and the market supply/demand. Because the economy has led to a tighter pharmacist job market, it is a reality that 1) companies are experiencing budget cuts, 2) pharmacist layoffs lead to increased supply of pharmacists.
I have been waiting to respond to this question because I wanted to observe for a longer period what the pharmacist job market is experiencing and give you my first-hand perspective. I have noticed that pharmacies may be less generous with relocation or sign-on bonuses, but I haven’t necessarily seen salaries decrease significantly. There are hospitals that aren’t paying for pharmacists to travel to interview, because they are on smaller budgets than before.
Pharmacist salaries are stabilizing and don’t seem to be increasing as in previous years. Don’t expect that you have as much negotiating room for salaries as previous years, because the competition is tough out there and there may be someone equally as qualified who will work for a salary that you may think it’s not enough. I know an inpatient pharmacist who took a hiatus in her work for almost a year & is wanting to get back into hospital or home infusion. She had an opportunity that she could get back into but she was out of touch with how the pharmacist job market has shifted, and felt that the salary was not competitive enough. She is still out of a job months later because of this.
If you are a relief pharmacist, you may have noticed that temporary staffing needs have decreased in certain areas (partly because they are being filled by full-time pharmacists more readily in this job market). The pharmacist staffing companies are experiencing a cut in what pharmacies are paying and I have seen some agencies decrease the amount they are paying pharmacists because expenses of the services & costs of doing business of an agency don’t decrease just because it’s a tighter job market.
Comment below (you can keep it anonymous if you wish) about what you’ve seen with salaries at your workplace.
I’ve included the National Results from the 2010 Spring Edition Pharmacist Salary Survey from Mercer Human Resource Consulting. *Keep in mind that there are absolutely variations geographically & you may be compensated differently due to the depth of role that you have.
2010 Pharmacy Compensation Survey – Spring Edition
National Results
| Pos Code(s) | Pos Title(s) | # Orgs | # Obs | $ Hourly Base Pay Wgtd Mean | $ Annualized Base Pay Wgtd Mean* |
| 100 | Pharmacy Team Mgr | 99 | 27,079 | 60.20 | 125.2 |
| 200 | Staff Pharmacist – Retail | 28 | 52,730 | 54.59 | 113.6 |
| 205 | Staff Pharmacist – Hospital | 99 | 3,919 | 53.73 | 111.7 |
| 210 | Staff Pharmacist (Healthcare Retail/Satellite) | 17 | 448 | 51.66 | 107.4 |
| 220 | Staff Pharmacist (Mail-order/Online) | 9 | 2,336 | 52.55 | 109.3 |
| 250 | Clinical Pharmacist | 71 | 1,194 | 54.55 | 113.4 |
| 270 | Nuclear Pharmacist | 2 | 226 | —— | —— |
| 200 205 210 220 250 270 |
Staff Pharmacist – Retail, Staff Pharmacist – Hospital, Staff Pharmacist (Healthcare Retail/Satellite), Staff Pharmacist (Mail-order/Online), Clinical Pharmacist, Nuclear Pharmacist | 147 | 60,853 | 54.07 | 112.5 |
| 300 | Lead Pharmacy Tech | 83 | 24,742 | 17.39 | 36.2 |
| 310 | Pharmacy Tech | 113 | 98,140 | 15.44 | 32.1 |
| 300 310 |
Lead Pharmacy Tech, Pharmacy Tech | 144 | 122,882 | 15.81 | 32.9 |
I am a 55 year old retail pharmacist in Alabama and I have experienced the nightmare of finding a pharmacist position in the job market we have in our state. My store’s pharmacy closed at the end of September 2009 and I have been working 2-4 days a month since that time. I have called every independent within an hour to 2 hour drive and also applied with all the chains to no avail. I am healthy, own my on home and have lived here for over 20 years. If you have any suggestions I would be happy to try them. If not I will probably go into another line of work and will miss being the warm, friendly, pharmacist that I am. If someone offered me almost any salary at this point I would gladly accept just to be working !
I can not understand why most pharmacists are surprised that the market for jobs is going down hill. Could they not see that the schools are flooding the market with many new graduates and the new roles for many of these pharmacists have not been established? As the market gets worse, the working environment for the pharmacist gets worse, as he becomes a cheaper commodity, and can be readily replaced. We have not yet begun to see how bad the market will slide down! The schools tell these kids a lot of nonsense about what they will be able to do, but they will soon see the sad reality that they are just cogs in the machinery.
I have noticed in Anchorage the demand for pharmacists has decreased slightly, but there are still unfilled positions in retail, hospital, and closed pharmacies. These tend o be at the lower end of the pay scale. The company I contract with in Anchorage is offering an unrealisticly low salary but making up for it by REDUCING benefits. They offer about $55 per hour with no weekend (their reason for lower salary), however when a dozen fresh eggs costs up to $7, organic potatos $3.50 a pound and to get fresh fruit and vegtables you have to import them weekly yourself from the lower 48 at a cost of $40 to $80, the offered salary with few other fringes isn’t very appealing .
There are still many unfilled jobs accross Alaska but they are mainly in outlying areas that offer ridiculously low salaries. $87,000 a year, (while living expenses: over $2000 a month rent, $100 a month for cable, milk at $9.50 a gallon etc) isn’t even a living wage.
Temp positions in these areas when they offer them, if you can handle the isolation and living conitions can be very lucrative however.
I agree that these schools are totally padding the job description of pharmacists. I quit pharmacy school after 2 years and will be applying to medical schools. We had professors who told us stories about assisting in heart surgeries. How weird and stupid is that? When did pharmacists start doing that? LOL Some of my classmates couldn’t do simple math. However, they are planning on increasing class size next year. I feel like these administrators will saturate the market and make the problem worse.
Hey kevin, im in the exact same position as you, do u mind contacting me so we can share why u left
thanks dan
chumsy187@hotmail.com
Pharmacy salaries in Chicago are dropping rapidly. Recent grads are willing to work for 75K despite the market in the 100 to 110K range. Who would guess that Illinois would have 6 pharmacy schools? Who authorized those?