Pharmacy Daily | Pay rates rising in race for top talent

SKILLS shortages are driving pharmacists' pay rates up, as pharmacy owners compete to attract available talent, Raven's Recruitment's The Pharmacy Salary and Market Report 2022 reveals.

Raven's Recruitment General Manager, Heidi Dariz, said the current staff shortages in the pharmacy sector were "at a level unmatched in Raven's Recruitment's 35 year history".

Dariz noted that despite hospital and retail pharmacists being listed on the Priority Migration Skilled Occupation List last year, COVID-19-induced border closures meant this "has done little to ease the current shortages in the pharmacy workforce.

The report, now in its fifth year, found that full-time employee pharmacists in regional and rural locations across the country earn annual salaries of between $90,000 to $130,000.

When it comes to the capitals, Canberra-based pharmacies offer the highest salaries, ranging from $88,000 to $105,000, while pharmacists looking for permanent roles in Perth should set their sights a little lower, with rates of $82,000 to $94,000 being offered.

Pharmacists in charge can earn up to $165,000 a year in regional Queensland and the Northern Territory, while pharmacy owners based outside the major metro areas of South Australia and Western Australian expect salaries ranging from $110,000 to $153,000.

Regional Queensland and the NT also offer-the-top rates for pharmacy managers, with rates from $125,000 to $195,000.

"Continued shortages in finding pharmacists for permanent roles, combined with recent international border restrictions easing and travel an option again have made locum pharmacists more in demand than ever," Dariz said.

"Pay rates have increased significantly, with hourly rates for locums who are available at short notice in some instances doubling over the last 12 months"

Locums are now seeing hourly weekday rates of $65 to $75 an hour in capital cities, and $75 to $95 in regional and rural areas, plus accommodation and travel expenses, while emergency locum placements are paying between $80 and $110 per hour, depending on location.