Occupational Employment and Wages, 2002

29-2052 Pharmacy Technicians

Prepare medications under the direction of a pharmacist. May measure, mix, count out, label, and record amounts and dosages of medications.

National estimates for this occupation
Industry profile for this occupation
State profile for this occupation
Metropolitan area profile for this occupation

National estimates for this occupation: Top

Employment estimate and mean wage estimates for this occupation:

Employment (1)	Employment RSE (3)	Mean hourly wage	Mean annual wage (2)	Wage RSE (3)
207,380	1.5 %	$11.15	$23,200	0.5 %

Percentile wage estimates for this occupation:

Percentile	10%	25%	50% (Median)	75%	90%
Hourly Wage	$7.44	$8.74	$10.70	$13.19	$15.82
Annual Wage (2)	$15,470	$18,170	$22,250	$27,430	$32,910

Industry profile for this occupation: Top

Industries with the highest levels of employment in this occupation:

Industry	Employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage	Employment rank	Wage rank
Health and personal care stores	101,260	$10.20	$21,210	1	28
General medical and surgical hospitals	44,590	$12.65	$26,310	2	14
Grocery stores	14,170	$11.23	$23,360	3	22
Department stores	10,490	$9.95	$20,700	4	29
Druggists' goods merchant wholesalers	6,190	$11.49	$23,900	5	19

Top paying industries for this occupation:

Industry	Employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage	Employment rank	Wage rank
Pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing	270	$16.52	$34,370	21	1
Local government (OES designation)	540	$14.49	$30,150	14	2
Federal government (OES designation)	3,880	$14.42	$30,000	7	3
Warehousing and storage	(6)	$14.21	$29,560	(6)	4
Offices of physicians	4,640	$13.92	$28,950	6	5

State profile for this occupation: Top

States with the highest concentration of workers in this occupation:

State	Employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage	Percent of State employment	Wage rank within State
West Virginia	1,620	$9.52	$19,800	0.238%	484
Minnesota	5,920	$13.00	$27,040	0.228%	499
Alabama	4,020	$9.10	$18,920	0.221%	564
Rhode Island	1,020	$10.05	$20,900	0.216%	457
Kentucky	3,600	$10.60	$22,050	0.209%	479

Top paying States for this occupation:

State	Employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage	Percent of State employment	Wage rank within State
California	18,490	$15.07	$31,350	0.128%	453
Alaska	340	$14.40	$29,950	0.119%	327
Washington	3,850	$14.24	$29,610	0.150%	488
Oregon	2,520	$13.22	$27,490	0.162%	437
Minnesota	5,920	$13.00	$27,040	0.228%	499

Metropolitan area profile for this occupation: Top

Metropolitan areas with the highest concentration of workers in this occupation:

MSA	Employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage	Percent of MSA employment
Rochester, MN MSA	420	$13.89	$28,890	0.440%
Florence, AL MSA	170	$10.54	$21,920	0.340%
Cumberland, MD-WV MSA	140	$9.81	$20,400	0.340%
Columbia, MO MSA	260	$9.48	$19,730	0.336%
Springfield, MO MSA	540	$9.23	$19,190	0.333%

Top paying Metropolitan areas for this occupation:

MSA	Employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage	Percent of MSA employment
San Francisco, CA PMSA	830	$16.81	$34,970	0.083%
San Jose, CA PMSA	900	$16.41	$34,140	0.101%
Oakland, CA PMSA	1,440	$16.32	$33,950	0.144%
Santa Rosa, CA PMSA	240	$16.12	$33,530	0.123%
San Diego, CA MSA	1,630	$15.47	$32,180	0.132%

About 2002 National, State, and Metropolitan Area Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

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These estimates are calculated with data collected from employers in all industry sectors in metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas in every State and the District of Columbia. The top five employment and wage figures are provided above. The complete list is available in the downloadable Excel files(XLS).

Percentile wage estimates show the percentage of workers in an occupation that earn less than a given wage and the percentage that earn more. The median wage is the 50th percentile wage estimate—50 percent of workers earn less than the median and 50 percent of workers earn more than the median. More about percentile wages.

(1) Data for detailed occupations does not sum to the totals because the totals include data for occupations not shown separately. Estimates do not include self-employed workers.

(2) Annual wages have been calculated by multiplying the hourly mean wage by a "year-round, full-time" hours figure of 2,080 hours; for those occupations where there is not an hourly mean wage published, the annual wage has been directly calculated from the reported survey data.

(3) The relative standard error (RSE) is a measure of the reliability of a survey statistic. The smaller the relative standard error, the more precise the estimate.

(6) Estimates not released.

All Healthcare Practitioner and Technical Occupations

2002 State Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

2002 Metropolitan Area Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

2002 National Industry-Specific Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

List of Occupations in SOC Code Number Order

List of Occupations in Alphabetical Order

Download 2002 Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates in Zipped Excel files

Technical notes

 

Last Modified Date: November 26, 2003