The most recent occupation-specific data available from the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics — which dates back to May 2019 — shows that there were about 322,000 pharmacists and approximately 422,000 pharmacy technicians employed in the U.S. at that time. Given that such numbers are from well before the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic upheaval that followed, you can only assume that things have changed to at least some degree since then. (More recent data is available on the health care sector as a whole, as part of the BLS monthly Employment Situation update; it illuminates that there's been some small, give-and-take fluctuation between the final months of 2020 and the first month of 2021. But it has no precise snapshot of pharmacy personnel employment.)

Yet with all of that said, most of the trends that seemed to be influencing the job outlook for both pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, including those serving long-term care facilities, have not necessarily changed. Thus, the BLS data — and other, similar research — can function as a reasonable baseline for anyone attempting to plot out what the outlook might be for LTC pharmacy jobs in the years to come.

A field in the midst of transition

For the last several decades, the staff dynamic in pharmacy settings mostly remained the same. While the specifics of day-to-day operations might differ somewhat between retail pharmacies (those connected to supermarkets or big-box stores), independent drugstores and those in niche fields like LTC or post-acute care, they operated according to the following basic pattern: 

• Pharmacists collected patient information, prepared medications that required specific antecedent steps (e.g., compounding), kept lines of communication open with prescribers and insurance companies and reviewed the work of technicians before it ever reached customers. 

• Technicians took care of the pharmacy's nuts-and-bolts tasks: sorting out individual orders by fetching proper dosages from inventory, verifying insurances, contacting customers and handling final transactions, either at the cash register or through a delivery service.

However, in the latest edition of its Occupational Outlook Handbook, the BLS explained that in more and more instances, techs have begun to handle many of the key duties that were once mostly or solely entrusted to pharmacists.

This is in large part due to the increasing complexity of the job itself — a natural evolution, as modern drugs have only grown in complexity and are likely to continue doing so. Many pharmacies offer on-the-job training through programs approved by state boards of pharmacy,  so individuals who embark on this path know they can develop the talents they need and keep apace with the latest developments in the field. Also, some techs have gone through formal post-secondary training programs in pharmacy technology accredited by renowned industry organizations like the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. (There are at least 320 of these in the U.S. alone.)

Where does this leave pharmacists? Their role is now largely supervisory in nature, but also includes more directly patient-facing tasks such as administering flu shots and offering basic "minute clinic" health exams to low-income patients. The value of a pharmacist's expertise is considerable — attained by completing a Doctor of Pharmacy program (as well as two to four years of undergraduate study) and amassing considerable professional experience thereafter. Thus, they can never be entirely replaced. But because techs are expected to be more knowledgeable, pharmacies don't have to hire as many pharmacists as they once did. 

Pharmacists and technicians on opposite job-growth paths

Per the latest data from BLS, employment of pharmacists in the U.S. is projected to drop 3% between 2019 and 2029. In addition to today's techs being more skilled than they perhaps once were, retail pharmacies themselves are also losing business to online or mail-order services, contributing to further staff cutbacks.

By contrast, the BLS predicted that the same 2019-2029 period would be characterized by a 4% uptick in job growth for U.S. pharmacy technicians, about on par with the average growth rate for all American occupations. The need for technicians to shoulder greater burdens as pharmacist numbers are cut is a key reason for this. 

Opportunities in the LTC sphere

The other main factor cited by the BLS as a driver of job growth for pharmacy techs was perhaps even more important — the simple fact that the U.S., in particular, is a significantly aging population. Even when dealing with elder patients on a more indirect basis than doctors, nurses and orderlies, pharmacy techs serving this demographic require specialized skills and knowledge. 

Chronic diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and late-stage diabetes, as well as cancer and other serious illnesses, require complex treatment and medication regimens, so LTC pharmacies expect more of their techs. They may also be willing to pay more: According to the latest data from PayScale, the average certified pharmacy technician with proven experience in the LTC field will earn $35,261 a year, higher than the average for the entire profession ($33,950, per the BLS). Developing a strong track record at a solid pace will lead techs to greater opportunities down the road — and, even more importantly, put them in a position to improve care for one of the nation's most vulnerable populations.

LTC pharmacy administrators may initially be disheartened by the job market for more traditional pharmacists, but at the same time, it's clear that today's techs are more prepared than ever to handle complex work environments. With the help of cutting-edge tools like FrameworkLTC that streamline medication order processing and dispensing operations, skilled techs can significantly benefit both LTC pharmacies and their facility clients in ways that simply weren't feasible not long ago.