Beginning pharmaceutical technicians can earn comfortable wages.
Pharmacy technicians help licensed pharmacists prepare prescriptions and perform customer service and administrative tasks in a pharmacy. There are no standard certificates or training mandated to become a pharmacy technician, although the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) points out that in a competitive field, those with certification and experience are typically favored. The average starting salary for a pharmacy technician will depend on the type of setting he works in, as well as his location.
Average Salary
Overall, pharmacy technicians earn a mean annual wage of $28,940 in the United States, or a mean hourly wage of $13.92, according to the BLS as of 2009. The bottom 10 percent of those technicians earned an average salary of $19,480, or $9.36 an hour. This lower percentage falls within the hourly rate range for pharmacy technicians with less than one year experience as recorded by PayScale.com as of January 2011, which is $8.31 to $10.82 per hour, or $17,284 to $22,505 per year.
Industry
More than 75 percent of pharmacy technicians work in retail settings, making the industry of health and personal care stores the highest paying industry, with a mean annual wage of $27,590, according to the BLS. General medical and surgical hospitals also employ pharmacy technicians and offer an average annual salary of $32,710. Those working in grocery stores earn an average of $28,610, while other general merchandise stores and department stores offer averages of $26,310 and $25,660 respectively.
Location
The highest paying area in the United States for pharmaceutical technicians is San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, California, at an average annual salary of $43,500. While California does have the top five highest paying cities for pharmacy technicians, it is only the second highest paying state overall for this occupation at $36,770. Alaska is the highest paying state, with a mean annual wage of $37,090, for pharmacy technicians.
Outlook and Training
The employment of pharmacy technicians is projected to grow by 31 percent, according to the BLS, although those with this job title are increasingly expected to take on additional administrative duties once performed by pharmacy aides. Opportunities for advancement and significant raises in pay are limited, although in some cases technicians in large pharmacies may be promoted to a supervisory role or specialize in a certain area, such as chemotherapy.
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