Pharmacy technicians are one of the least happy careers in the United States.
At CareerExplorer, we conduct an ongoing survey with millions of people and ask them how satisfied they are with their careers. As it turns out, pharmacy technicians rate their career happiness 2.8 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 15% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy pharmacy technicians are to similar careers in the industry. Take a look at the results below:
Salaries and satisfaction ratings in similar careers
| Career | Satisfaction | Avg Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Clinical research coordinator | 2.8 | $54k |
| Home health aide | 2.8 | $25k |
| Psychiatric technician | 2.8 | $23k |
| Licensed practical nurse | 2.8 | $41k |
| Medical laboratory technologist | 2.8 | $65k |
| Pharmacy technician | 2.8 | $18k |
| Medical administrative assistant | 2.8 | $19k |
| Neurodiagnostic technologist | 2.8 | $63k |
| Clinical nurse specialist | 2.8 | $83k |
| Medical billing and coding technician | 2.7 | $40k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are pharmacy technicians happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do pharmacy technicians find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as pharmacy technicians?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are pharmacy technician’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are pharmacy technicians making the best use of their abilities?
Are pharmacy technicians happy with their salary?
Pharmacy technicians rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.7/5. Pharmacy technicians tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked pharmacy technicians how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.7 out of 5 stars
2403 pharmacy technicians
8% of pharmacy technicians rated their compensation 5 stars
17% of pharmacy technicians rated their compensation 4 stars
28% of pharmacy technicians rated their compensation 3 stars
25% of pharmacy technicians rated their compensation 2 stars
22% of pharmacy technicians rated their compensation 1 stars
Do pharmacy technicians find their jobs meaningful?
On average, pharmacy technicians rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.6/5. While most pharmacy technicians aren’t very fulfilled by their work, some people may still manage to find meaning in it.
We asked pharmacy technicians how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.6 out of 5 stars
2409 pharmacy technicians
9% of pharmacy technicians rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
17% of pharmacy technicians rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
26% of pharmacy technicians rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
25% of pharmacy technicians rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
24% of pharmacy technicians rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as pharmacy technicians?
Pharmacy technicians rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.7/5. The majority of pharmacy technicians find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked pharmacy technicians how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
2570 pharmacy technicians
30% of pharmacy technicians rated their career fit 5 stars
33% of pharmacy technicians rated their career fit 4 stars
23% of pharmacy technicians rated their career fit 3 stars
8% of pharmacy technicians rated their career fit 2 stars
5% of pharmacy technicians rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a pharmacy technician’s work environment?
As a whole, pharmacy technicians rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.3/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.
We asked pharmacy technicians how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.3 out of 5 stars
2575 pharmacy technicians
19% of pharmacy technicians rated their work environment 5 stars
30% of pharmacy technicians rated their work environment 4 stars
25% of pharmacy technicians rated their work environment 3 stars
16% of pharmacy technicians rated their work environment 2 stars
9% of pharmacy technicians rated their work environment 1 stars
Are pharmacy technicians making the best use of their abilities?
Former pharmacy technicians on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.9/5. Pharmacy technicians tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.
We asked pharmacy technicians how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
2.9 out of 5 stars
2576 pharmacy technicians
15% of pharmacy technicians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
21% of pharmacy technicians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
25% of pharmacy technicians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
24% of pharmacy technicians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
15% of pharmacy technicians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars