More than 36,000 pharmacy technicians will start this week with a larger income after the US largest retailer Walmart said it is raising the average hourly pay for its store and Sam’s Club pharmacy technicians to more than $20 an hour and announced plans to give more frequent and automatic raises.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual wage for pharmacy technicians in May 2021 was $17.66 an hour, or $36,740.
The company explained that its certified technicians can make $3 more per hour than non-certified technicians but Walmart, which also plans to hire this year approximately 5,000 additional pharmacy technicians, underscored that it covers the costs for employees’ certification through its Live Better U education program.
Walmart’s technicians will also get more raises with its new wage model that can add up to $4 to the new pharmacy technicians’ starting base pay over the course of four years. They’ll also get raises every six months in their first two years with the company.
Sam’s Club executive Walmart, Sean Jackson, and Walmart’s senior vice president, Kevin Host, wrote in a blog post that Walmart is among the first large retailers to incorporate this kind of model commonly seen in healthcare systems.
Pointing out that testing customers for COVID and administering vaccines, its technicians have been front and center during the pandemic, Walmart is introducing a new, progressive wage model designed to set the company apart from the competition amid a nationwide labor shortage of pharmacy technicians.
The retailer said in a blog post that after the August 2021 raise, this is the second increase in the past year for Walmart technicians.
The National Community Pharmacists Association’s November 2021 survey showed that over 68% of independent community pharmacies were having time filling staff positions and 88% underscored that pharmacy technicians are in short supply.
Around 68% of pharmacies surveyed pointed out that the staffing shortages resulted in increased prescription dispensing times.
The bureau noted that there were 419,300 technicians nationwide in 2020.
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