Pharmacist Salaries

SeaDaily

I was reading a thread on here from 2009 about pharmacists salaries and many of the comments were saying how bleak the future looked. Seeing as we are now five years on from most of the comments in that thread what state are pharmacists in in this country? What do job prospects look like for newly qualified college graduates and what do you think the average salary for a pharmacist is in Ireland at the moment?

SeaDaily

SeaDaily wrote: »

I was reading a thread on here from 2009 about pharmacists salaries and many of the comments were saying how bleak the future looked. Seeing as we are now five years on from most of the comments in that thread what state are pharmacists in in this country? What do job prospects look like for newly qualified college graduates and what do you think the average salary for a pharmacist is in Ireland at the moment?

At least 3.50 an hour.

locum-motion

I now earn the same as I was earning 12 years ago, and less than 2/3 of what I was earning at peak.

As to specifically what that is, it's none of your business. Sorry.

SeaDaily

It's a pretty hostile/unhelpful response I'm getting here. To The_Dazzler thanks for your pointless waste of time of a comment, back to after hours with you.

locum-motion thanks for your answer but I never asked for exactly what your salary was, just a rough idea of the average salary that a pharmacist is earning in Ireland at the moment. No need for the "it's none of your business". Have you no insight whatsoever into what the average salary of a pharmacist might be?

Also would you care to answer any of the other questions that I posed? What do job prospects look like for recently graduated pharmacists at the moment?

SeaDaily

SeaDaily wrote: »

It's a pretty hostile/unhelpful response I'm getting here. To The_Dazzler thanks for your pointless waste of time of a comment, back to after hours with you.

locum-motion thanks for your answer but I never asked for exactly what your salary was, just a rough idea of the average salary that a pharmacist is earning in Ireland at the moment. No need for the "it's none of your business". Have you no insight whatsoever into what the average salary of a pharmacist might be?

Also would you care to answer any of the other questions that I posed? What do job prospects look like for recently graduated pharmacists at the moment?

Why do you want to know? Are you a recently graduated pharmacist? Are you not a member of PSI? I'm sure they have the information that you would need. I'm just wary that your only two posts relating to pharmacy are enquiring about wages.

locum-motion

EDIT:

I am editing this post as the original version was deemed 'Uncivil'.

The post I originally wrote was a reply to a post that called me hostile and unhelpful, despite the fact that I had answered part of the OP's question based on my own experiences, and even though I declined to answer his request for specific salary amounts, I apologised for so declining.

To me, that was neither hostile or unhelpful.

Because my initial response was deemed to be uncivil, I am withdrawing it, and I shall report that post instead.

irishrepeat2

locum-motion wrote: »

Get off your high horse.

You asked for comparisons to 5 years ago. I answered that question.

You also asked about

I am absolutely not going to discuss specific numbers in a public forum. It is nobody's business but mine. I also apologised for the fact that I wasn't going to answer it.

So, climb back on your horse now, and as far as I'm concerned you can ride off into the sunset, because I will never answer another question you ask here.

whats your problem really.

anyhow it really varies with locum work and hours..its damm competitive to get a job nowadays anyways so yeh take what yeh can get.so id be on the more cautious side of this figures.its likely youll be earning less.
the median is 48,000 however youll have to work your ass off to get that nowadays in 5-10years as a new graduate.
so yeh thats the figure

Vorsprung

Locum motion,

You've had warnings about the tone of a couple of your posts in the past. Consider this your last warning.

The Dazzler,

If you are suspicious of a poster's motives when asking a question, please report the post. I can see the OP was recently a Leaving Cert student, maybe he/she wants to get some info before commiting to a pharmacy place.

For everyone, a reminder of the 2 most basic rules on boards:

1) If anyone has an issue with a post, report it.
2) Don't be a dick

SeaDaily

Deleted User wrote: »

Why do you want to know? Are you a recently graduated pharmacist? Are you not a member of PSI? I'm sure they have the information that you would need. I'm just wary that your only two posts relating to pharmacy are enquiring about wages.

No need to be wary it was a fairly basic set of questions. Why so suspicious of me? It's as if I was asking for some extremely sensitive information that only a select chosen group should know.

Pharmacy is a career path that I am considering pursuing and I thought I would enquire about the job prospects and the current salaries pharmacists are making. Nothing particularly sinister about that I don't think.

locum-motion wrote: »

Get off your high horse.
I am absolutely not going to discuss specific numbers in a public forum. It is nobody's business but mine. I also apologised for the fact that I wasn't going to answer it.

If anyone is on a high horse it most certainly not me. Please please don't try and "answer" any further questions I have have on here, you are just about the rudest most unhelpful poster I have ever seen on boards.

Also I asked "what do you think the average salary for a pharmacist is in Ireland at the moment?" and you have answered that this information is nobody's business but yours. So the only person in the whole of Ireland who knows what the average salary of a pharmacist in Ireland is you and you won't share it with anyone. You must be a very important person to have such information available to you and you alone.

irishrepeat2 wrote: »

whats your problem really.

anyhow it really varies with locum work and hours..its damm competitive to get a job nowadays anyways so yeh take what yeh can get.so id be on the more cautious side of this figures.its likely youll be earning less.
the median is 48,000 however youll have to work your ass off to get that nowadays in 5-10years as a new graduate.
so yeh thats the figure

Thank you for your answer it is much appreciated. Do you see the situation worsening or improving in the future?

Vorsprung

Back on topic please.

For the record, a typical per hour rate for a locum pharmacist in Dublin these days is in the order of €25, obviously a newly contracted employee would earn less than that.

Have a look at some of the jobs sites, thy might give you an idea of current entry level salaries.

Pharmacy as a career is relatively well paid. I just tire of people who ask about money. I don't know many other industries where you would get the starting salary that you get in pharmacy. But in reality, this should be down your list of priorities.

The reason I was wary is that sometimes employers come on to websites and ask what wage people will take and try get staff to reduce down to the "average"

From all your messages in relation to pharmacy have been about how much money.

Now, a question for you, why do you want to do pharmacy?

Dingle_berry

A quick google of "public sector pay scales" leads to hse which gives you the salary for all forms of pharmacist in the public sector. As Vorsprung suggested above, looking at various agency/job search websites will tell you how much pharmacists earn in the private sector.
FWIW choosing a course or career based solely on pay is a bad idea.

SeaDaily

Dingle_berry wrote: »

A quick google of "public sector pay scales" leads to hse which gives you the salary for all forms of pharmacist in the public sector. As Vorsprung suggested above, looking at various agency/job search websites will tell you how much pharmacists earn in the private sector.
FWIW choosing a course or career based solely on pay is a bad idea.

I am not at all choosing a career based on pay, if I was I would be considering doing a actuary or finance degree. As it is I have just completed first year science and plan to specialize in pharmacology or medicinal chemistry or something along those lines. I am asking about pharmacy because I am also considering applying for advanced entry to pharmacy in Trinity because as far as I can tell pharmacy would allow you to go into all the areas that a pharmacology degree or a medicinal chemistry degree would but has the advantage of giving you a profession to fall back on as well. Does that make sense or am I missing something. Would a transfer to pharmacy in Trinity be the best option?

I believe the above answers The_Dazzler's question about why I want to do pharmacy as well.

irishrepeat2

SeaDaily wrote: »

I am not at all choosing a career based on pay, if I was I would be considering doing a actuary or finance degree. As it is I have just completed first year science and plan to specialize in pharmacology or medicinal chemistry or something along those lines. I am asking about pharmacy because I am also considering applying for advanced entry to pharmacy in Trinity because as far as I can tell pharmacy would allow you to go into all the areas that a pharmacology degree or a medicinal chemistry degree would but has the advantage of giving you a profession to fall back on as well. Does that make sense or am I missing something. Would a transfer to pharmacy in Trinity be the best option?

I believe the above answers The_Dazzler's question about why I want to do pharmacy as well.

Pharmacy is ever changing.But with more supply more than demand..and less money in it its going one direction fast.With little to nothing being done theres little hope.
You'd have to work your ass off to get a job these days without contacts.
Its likely you'd end up abroad.I'd be slow to jump ship as of yet.

Might be best to stick to the other degrees.

quadrifoglio verde

SeaDaily wrote: »

I am not at all choosing a career based on pay, if I was I would be considering doing a actuary or finance degree. As it is I have just completed first year science and plan to specialize in pharmacology or medicinal chemistry or something along those lines. I am asking about pharmacy because I am also considering applying for advanced entry to pharmacy in Trinity because as far as I can tell pharmacy would allow you to go into all the areas that a pharmacology degree or a medicinal chemistry degree would but has the advantage of giving you a profession to fall back on as well. Does that make sense or am I missing something. Would a transfer to pharmacy in Trinity be the best option?

I believe the above answers The_Dazzler's question about why I want to do pharmacy as well.

The only way you could transfer in trinity is if you have the points already to get in.

After your four years you do a years internship before sitting the psi exams. Some of the internships are unpaid, some are paid better than others.
However the course is changing to a 5 year inclusive course. A nice advantage of pharmacy is the structures in place once you finish college for career progression. However it's like this in most health science courses.

Once registered, most seem to locum for a while and I know one person who has recently registered and is flat out as a locum. However rates are a lot lower than they once were, but I've heard that they've started rising from the low that they hit a while back. Compared to most graduate jobs at 23 the pay is brilliant if you locum and get lots of work but not as good if you have regular hours and a contract.

angeldelight

Also a point to keep in mind - Locum work is quite seasonal. From May to September there's generally lots as pharmacists are going on hidays and will take any cover they can get. Once mid-September comes it dies down a lot. There'll be Saturdays available, and other days if you've proven yourself to be good at your job

I was giving community pharmacy in ireland due diligence and I got quoted a good bit higher than the median mentioned here for a permanent job in a dublin suburb.