Employment outlook for pharmacists rosy -- sort of

There’s good news and not-so-good news for pharmacists in the world of work.

First, the good news: According to an article in the August 2009 issue of Managed Care Magazine, the employment of pharmacists is expected to increase much faster than the national average of all occupations through 2016.

Managed Care reports that the employment of pharmacists is expected to grow by 22 percent between 2006 and 2016. Likely reasons for the continuing strong demand include:
• the growing number of middle-aged and elderly people who use more prescription drugs than younger people
• scientific advances that will make more drugs available, and
• the coverage of prescription drugs by a greater number of health insurance plans and Medicare.

In addition to favorable employment projections, pharmacists can look forward to relatively high salaries. Managed Care cites data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicating that the median salary for pharmacists in 2008 was $106,410. Fifty percent earned between $92,670 and $121,310. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $77,390, while the highest 10 percent earned more than $131,440.

The not-so-good news is that the June 2009 issue of Aggregate Demand Index reports that the U.S. demand for pharmacists in June 2009 was slightly lower than in May 2009, and quite a bit lower than in June 2008. The ADI indicates that in Arizona, in June of this year there was a balance between the supply of pharmacists and the demand for them, a slightly worse employment situation than a couple years ago. The state with the highest unmet need for pharmacists in June was Wisconsin.

But take heart, Arizona pharmacists! Although the demand is down a bit, you are still more likely than people in other professions to find the job of your dreams.

Posted Sept. 25, 2009