🚨 I, a pharmacist, in the year 2022, got a raise. The apocalypse is nigh.🚨

[WVUPharm2007]

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2.4% raise, lads and lasses.

I know, inflation is like 7%. But, whatever. I still consider this a miracle.

 

[Dred Pirate]

I beat you by 0.1%! But then again, in 17 years I have only not gotten a raise once, in 2010.

Sad that this is considered an exception.

 

[confettiflyer]

Have pharmacists not been getting cost of living raises these last few years?

 

[Dred Pirate]

Have pharmacists not been getting cost of living raises these last few years?

many chain rph's have not from what I have heard - I know one wags rph who is only 5 years out of school and already maxed out on the salary range because of constantly lowering the max - absolutely ridiculous.

 

[DoctorRx1986]

Have pharmacists not been getting cost of living raises these last few years?

Wags froze salaries nationwide for pharmacists nearly 6 years ago . Last pay raise was in 2016 and have not seen a single dime since then . This is the norm . It’s pretty much one of the few professions in which you start out high and stay at around the same salary for an entire career . Most other occupations you may start making 5-figures and will work your way up to 6-figures over the course of decades . Pharmacy is not like this . If you start around $110-$120 , you will remain there more or less for your entire life unless you go into an undesirable role such as rxm or DM. No upward mobility .

 

[Dred Pirate]

Wags froze salaries nationwide for pharmacists nearly 6 years ago . Last pay raise was in 2016 and have not seen a single dime since then . This is the norm . It’s pretty much one of the few professions in which you start out high and stay at around the same salary for an entire career . Most other occupations you may start making 5-figures and will work your way up to 6-figures over the course of decades . Pharmacy is not like this . If you start around $110-$120 , you will remain there more or less for your entire life unless you go into an undesirable role such as rxm or DM. No upward mobility .

I would clarify this as saying in the retail world this is true - maybe it will change if enrollment drops, but likely not anytime soon. Hospital is different. It used to be you started much less (like $10 an hour) and could work your way up to match retail, now I think hospital starts out relatively equal and has a much higher ceiling.

lets just hope that continues - but who knows. I do think hospitals are much more picky about who they hire (just won't hire a anyone with a license) - at least I know at my hospital we will let positions go unfilled for months until we find a good candidate.

 

[ValeRx]

Have pharmacists not been getting cost of living raises these last few years?

HAHAHAHA. Kroger gave their first 1% raise this year. Last raise was 2015 I believe.

 

[mentos]

Have pharmacists not been getting cost of living raises these last few years?

The chains lowered starting pay to $45-50/hr in 2019. It might be a little more now but still lower than ten years ago.

 

[alpha12]

Most other occupations you may start making 5-figures and will work your way up to 6-figures over the course of decades

Not true. Many professions like engineers now make 6 figures out of school.

 

[metformin800]

Pharmacist raises have become joke. One of my previous classmate try to lure me in by saying the rate they offer to new class and raise. I am like hell nah lol

 

[Rockinacoustic]

I've gotten 2% the past two years and always a merit raise years before (and couple COL increases in there too). Looks like a year of indentured pgy-1 servitude pays off in the long-run.

 

[CetiAlphaFive]

Yeah, i usually get somewhere around 3%. But I'm not near the top of retail pay

 

[confettiflyer]

The chains lowered starting pay to $45-50/hr in 2019. It might be a little more now but still lower than ten years ago.

Why…why would anyone spend four years of pharmacy school for such a low wage? That’s like a worse value proposition than getting a Master’s in social work.

Like…my significant other makes more than that on a Bachelor’s degree.

 

[mentos]

Why…why would anyone spend four years of pharmacy school for such a low wage? That’s like a worse value proposition than getting a Master’s in social work.

Like…my significant other makes more than that on a Bachelor’s degree.

Exactly. I think the prepharms see the "top ten highest paying jobs" lists and pharmacist is always top 2 or 3 with 140-160k listed. They're living in the past.

 

[Sunshine98*]

I was capped for the last few years, but shocked to get one as well 😳

 

[JustFillIt]

Yea I got a little baby raise this year too. It added like 40 bucks to my paychecks

 

[GrandTheftAutumn]

Why…why would anyone spend four years of pharmacy school for such a low wage?

"bECauSe I WAnt tO hElP PEoplE"

 

[Rockinacoustic]

Why…why would anyone spend four years of pharmacy school for such a low wage? That’s like a worse value proposition than getting a Master’s in social work.

Like…my significant other makes more than that on a Bachelor’s degree.

Isn't $45/hr minimum wage in your neck of the woods 😏

 

[Old Timer]

I have been maxed out for more than 7 years. They raised the threshold and I'm still maxed out. They did give my 2 something percent raise in a lump sum that I will get 7/1

 

[farmadiazepine]

5.25% this year (to account for inflation) in 2022, and 3.5% and 3% last year (2 raises last year, also to account for inflation) in 2021.

Now at $78/hr but it's still not enough.

 

[rxkrafted]

2% raise? Are you sure this isn't one of those annual "raises" that companies give up just to keep up with inflation?
I get 2% raises every year but actual raises based on performance are separate from these where i work.

 

[confettiflyer]

Isn't $45/hr minimum wage in your neck of the woods

lol, actually, it is below the low income limit line for a family of four.

 

[confettiflyer]

2% raise? Are you sure this isn't one of those annual "raises" that companies give up just to keep up with inflation?
I get 2% raises every year but actual raises based on performance are separate from these where i work.

Yeah, COLA/COL increases are separate from performance/longevity raises for me. COLA isn’t really a raise, it’s to prevent you from backsliding.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

2% raise? Are you sure this isn't one of those annual "raises" that companies give up just to keep up with inflation?
I get 2% raises every year but actual raises based on performance are separate from these where i work.

It's CVS. You didn't get jack from them for like 5 years.

 

[meltyblend]

Got a 2.6% raise. First raise in 3 years. I still feel underpaid for the amount of bs CVS throws at me.

 

[DH1987]

Haven't got my performance eval at the corner, yet. But if they don't give me a raise this year...then I think it's time to take a long and overdue vacation.

 

[VA77]

1.5% the last 3 years. Got a one time bonus of 1k for covid. Techs have gotten good increases but I'm glad cause I used to be one and started at $9/hr.

 

[Thoughtfulsinner]

Wag gave a performance raise last year if you met a certain review score.

 

[Dred Pirate]

1.5% the last 3 years. Got a one time bonus of 1k for covid. Techs have gotten good increases but I'm glad cause I used to be one and started at $9/hr.

I remember my first tech job- $4.50 an hour - and that was actually 25 cents over minimum wage at the time.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

I remember my first tech job- $4.50 an hour - and that was actually 25 cents over minimum wage at the time.

I was the envy of my friends when I was pulling in $8.17/hr back in early 2002 as an 18 year old hospital pharmacy tech.

 

[RxPreceptor]

I remember my first tech job- $4.50 an hour - and that was actually 25 cents over minimum wage at the time.

Man, those were the days...earning like $7 an hour just barely over minimum wage at the time where I was located. These young techs bitch about only $15 an hour

*Yawn, let the corporate procrastination/desperation continue for retaining long term staff as all per diem immunizers were laid off and 4th dose for COVID is ramping up for the 50+ yos. You know, perfect timing as usual (sarcasm).

God damn this past month was brutal with tech hour cuts to meet quarter quotas. Nothing like a mass surge of hiring only to give said new hires like zero hours

 

[Rxxxpharmd]

I would clarify this as saying in the retail world this is true - maybe it will change if enrollment drops, but likely not anytime soon. Hospital is different. It used to be you started much less (like $10 an hour) and could work your way up to match retail, now I think hospital starts out relatively equal and has a much higher ceiling.

lets just hope that continues - but who knows. I do think hospitals are much more picky about who they hire (just won't hire a anyone with a license) - at least I know at my hospital we will let positions go unfilled for months until we find a good candidate.

You are correcto. I make $65 per hour base pay before shift diff. 9 years at the same job so far. Started out at $46

 

[PikminOC]

Yes I had posted about this. Cvs pharmacist raises

 

[BidingMyTime]

Pharmacy is not like this . If you start around $110-$120 , you will remain there more or less for your entire life unless you go into an undesirable role such as rxm or DM. No upward mobility .

Which, if you are a smart investor, that could end up being the better deal, making a lot more money on the frontside, even if you don't get more money on the backside.

 

[alpha12]

I was the envy of my friends when I was pulling in $8.17/hr back in early 2002 as an 18 year old hospital pharmacy tech.

I was getting 7 bucks an hour working at McDonald’s in high school.