Sunday, September 2, 2012
The Attrition Rate
How many of you know pharmacists that would like to be retired but due to financial concerns are still in the workforce? I am noticing more pharmacists working much later in life than before because they simply cannot afford to retire. Many need the income because their employers have been cutting back on retirement benefits or their own retirement savings are less than anticipated due to the market and the economy. In the future, the fragile state of both of Medicare and Social Security will most likely only worsen this scenario as more and more cuts are made to these social programs. For Social Security, the age where benefits begin has already been increased to 67. Looking ahead, that age will more than likely be forced higher. Coupled with potential decreases in benefits and the ever vanishing employer contribution, it seems as though it will be much more difficult to retire in the future. This in turn means more pharmacists who were expected to leave the workforce due to retirement will still be in the workforce. The jobs that the numerous new graduates will be so desperate to find because the big, ugly, black cloud of the school loan is hovering above their heads might be unavailable in the worst case scenario. Alternatively, the new graduate may only be able to secure part time or per diem employment rather than full time. The "projected" need of new graduates to replace the attrition caused by outbound retiring pharmacists are inflated in my view and just another excuse for the new pharmacy schools to justify their need to exist...
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Great post and very timely. I find myself in this situation. I am 70 years old and still working for a chain store and I am just not sure if I have saved quite enough for 30 years of retirement. I get $2400/month SS but after taxes this is reduced.
ReplyDeleteThe new grads hired by the chain this year (9 of them in my district) are not getting full time yet and they cannot get another job if they don't. The corporation is not above hiring and then not giving enough hours. And most of them have crushing debt. I am just working about 16 hrs which is great for me
Thanx for the post
Gayle, thank you very much for your comment. I am just reporting what I see and hear. I am glad that you have found a happy medium for yourself at 16 hours a week. It is very unfortunate though for the new graduates who are entering a world that is drastically different than what they were envisioning. The lack of full time employment is leaving many of them paying 1/4 to 1/3 of their part time salary just to make their loan payments. That is just horrendous.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much. I am interested to know how the pharmacy manpower situation is in India. Please enlighten me.
ReplyDeleteI should start a blog. I've written a few pieces on other blogs/forums:
ReplyDelete(1) http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=940386
(2) http://baheyeldin.com/khalid/why-retail-pharmacist-is-a-bad-career-choice.html?page=14
(Scroll to "You have give me hope! PartII" on page 15)
I graduated in May of 2012 and I have been unemployed since!
The crazy thing is I'm not the only person in my class who is unemployed. I've since decided to return to school. Ugh! I'm even considering moving back in with my parents to see if I can obtain a part time pharmacy job and take community college classes to prep from a STEM degree!
This is so frustrating. I have friends in other careers who are unable to understand what I am goring through. They all say, "Pharmacy is a good career. You make six figures". I swear!
But you are right about pharmacist working longer. I currently reside in Miami, FL. And I can tell you that I have personally seen a surprising number of geriatric pharmacist still holding on to their jobs; and I admit that I wish that they would just call it quits and let the next generation get work.
But I suspect I won't have to wish for such a thing much longer. I've also noticed that chains are finding interesting ways to purge themselves of older pharmacist who remember the good days in exchange for recent graduates who have no fond memories to compare the pharmacy morass that we are in today.
And also the Florida legislature is voting to increase the pharmacist to technician ratio from 1:3 to 1:6! The writing is on the wall. Instead of hiring more pharmacist they'll manipulate the legislature to double the allowable technicians and halve the pharmacist. Pharmacists need to wake up!
Thank you for your comments. I empathize with your situation. It is very sad to see recent graduates seeking jobs that are very few and far between. I have precepted students for many years and now many of them contact me desperate for a job. This was not the case a few years ago.
DeleteYes, the older pharmacists are trying to hold on but at the same time employers see new graduates hungry for work and with massive debt. Employers know that the benefits (especially health care coverage) given to the older pharmacists are much more costly than they would be for a single young graduate. New employees also typically get short changed on numerous other benefits, such as vacation time, and that will only worsen as the flood of students graduating in the coming years saturates the job market.
I was not aware of the proposed legislation in Florida that you speak of. Our associations need to fight to stop these proposed laws from passing. All pharmacists need to wake up, even if they are currently happily employed, as this scenario will come back to haunt them one day.