Abstract
Pharmacy technicians are integral members of the health care team, assisting pharmacists and other health professionals in assuring safe and effective medication use. To date, evaluation of the labor market for pharmacy technicians has been limited, and relatively little has been evaluated regarding trends in wages. The objective of this research is to use US Bureau of Labor Statistics (US BLS) data to evaluate changes in pharmacy technician wages in the United States from 1997 to 2018 relative to changes in the US consumer price index (CPI). Median hourly wages for pharmacy technicians were collected from US BLS data from 1997 to 2018. Median hourly wages were compared to expected hourly wages, with the difference, a wage premium, indicative of imbalances in the supply and demand of labor. Both positive and negative wage premiums were observed, with most positive wage premiums occurring prior to 2007 and most negative wage premiums observed after 2008. Differences in wage premiums were also observed between technicians working in various practice settings. Given the median length of employment of pharmacy technicians, it is likely that the majority of technicians working in US pharmacies have not experienced increases in their wages relative to what would be expected by changes in the CPI. This has occurred at a time when pharmacies and pharmacists are asking more of their pharmacy technicians. Researchers and pharmacy managers must continue to evaluate the pharmacy technician labor market to assure that technician wage and compensation levels attract an adequate supply of sufficiently skilled workers.
Highlights
The labor markets for health care workers are important to monitor and evaluate, as these workers are still the driving force behind the delivery of goods and services that improve the health of individuals and entire populations
Variation in median hourly wages is noted between the settings where in 1997 to pharmacy technicians work
Variation in median hourly wages is noted between the settings where pharmacy
Summary
The labor markets for health care workers are important to monitor and evaluate, as these workers are still the driving force behind the delivery of goods and services that improve the health of individuals and entire populations. This is important in the profession of pharmacy, where the increased reliance on medications as a form of treatment requires trained personnel to ensure that medications deliver desired outcomes and avoid undesired outcomes. Pharmacy technicians support pharmacists in dispensing medications, performing clinical functions needed to improve the outcomes of mediation use [4,5,6], and to perform a number of administrative functions which assist in the operations of a pharmacy [7]. The ability to delegate and empower others is demonstrative of a pharmacist practicing at the top of their license [13]
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