When looking into a new career, people will often look at the salary numbers to see if they think that they can make a go of the industry. But just looking at the average salaries that exist is not always the best way to go about it. After all, the average salary for pharmacy technician is not where a new employee would be starting. People are paid according to their experience, so you can expect to begin at the low end of the pay scale when first starting out.
While the average salary of a pharmacy technician is about $14/hr, someone just coming into the field will hardly be making that much. The reason for this is because the average salary is based not just on salaries of people who are just starting out, but also of those who have been in the industry for their entire lives. A better way to look at pharmacy tech pay scales is to break it down into experience to let you know what can be expected in terms of compensation as your career advances.
Those who are just starting out can expect to make anywhere from about $8-$11 an hour. This may not seem like very much money for someone involved in the health industry, but that wage is usually increased fairly quickly. Many places will put new employees on a probationary period of 90 or 180 days. After this time, a wage increase can usually be expected.
This is done to protect the employer. You see, turnover is something that is very expensive for a company to absorb. The cost of turning over an employee in the fast food industry is well over $1,200 so you can only imagine what that cost is in a field such as this. Because of the training that is required, every new employee who walks through the door will cost the company thousands of dollars in a training commitment. Before they invest more money in wages, they want to be sure they are getting someone who is reliable.
This information is confirmed by the numbers: they show a significant jump in average salary from year one to year five. Even those who are still on the bottom end of the pay scale for pharmacy technicians can expect to be making over $12 at this point. The increase in pharmacy technician salary is well over the 4% that most people receive as a standard wage increase today.
The bottom line here is that the more that you put into the position, the more you are going to get out of it. As with any field, there are those who are looking to get ahead and those who are looking to pick up a check. When you are just punching a clock, there is very little to get out of any career path. When individuals devote themselves to their position and look to learn more and do more, they will find that their salary will usually be on the high end of the pay scale throughout their career.
