Stats as to why you should not do pharmacy

[glache]

Found this link as to why one should not do pharmacy: https://docs.employment.gov.au/node/31521

I only went through the NSW and VIC documents because they're the largest states, but I quote the following (2015 stats):

NSW

 The Department of Employment survey of employers who had recently advertised for pharmacists found that 94 per cent of vacancies were filled within the survey period. This compares with a success rate of 84 per cent in 2014.
 There was an average of 25 applicants per vacancy, of which an average of 2.5 per vacancy were considered suitable by employers. However, one vacancy attracted 200 applicants and the average number of applicants per vacancy for the other vacancies was 14.
 The success rate for filling vacancies in Sydney was 90 per cent while all surveyed vacancies in regional NSW were filled. However there were fewer suitable applicants per vacancy in regional NSW than in Sydney (1.7 compared to 3.0).

i.e. rural is not safe and there's been a 10% jump in vacancies being filled within a year.

VIC

 The Department of Employment Survey of Employers who have Recently Advertised (SERA) found that 94 per cent of surveyed hospital and retail pharmacist vacancies were filled from an average of 19.1 applicants and 3.6 suitable applicants per vacancy.
o This is an improvement on the fill rate noted in 2014 when the survey found that 69 per cent of positions were filled from an average of 2.0 suitable applicants per vacancy.
o In 2013, 93 per cent of advertised positions were filled from 2.9 suitable applicants per vacancy.
 In metropolitan areas 100 per cent of vacancies were filled from an average of 23.5 applicants and 4.0 suitable applicants per vacancy. 83 percent of regional vacancies were filled from an average of 11.8 applicants and 2.8 suitable applicants per vacancy.

i.e. VIC is getting even more competitive than NSW and Melbourne is just chockers.

[qazser]

Found this link as to why one should not do pharmacy: https://docs.employment.gov.au/node/31521

I only went through the NSW and VIC documents because they're the largest states, but I quote the following (2015 stats):

NSW

 The Department of Employment survey of employers who had recently advertised for pharmacists found that 94 per cent of vacancies were filled within the survey period. This compares with a success rate of 84 per cent in 2014.
 There was an average of 25 applicants per vacancy, of which an average of 2.5 per vacancy were considered suitable by employers. However, one vacancy attracted 200 applicants and the average number of applicants per vacancy for the other vacancies was 14.
 The success rate for filling vacancies in Sydney was 90 per cent while all surveyed vacancies in regional NSW were filled. However there were fewer suitable applicants per vacancy in regional NSW than in Sydney (1.7 compared to 3.0).

i.e. rural is not safe and there's been a 10% jump in vacancies being filled within a year.

VIC

 The Department of Employment Survey of Employers who have Recently Advertised (SERA) found that 94 per cent of surveyed hospital and retail pharmacist vacancies were filled from an average of 19.1 applicants and 3.6 suitable applicants per vacancy.
o This is an improvement on the fill rate noted in 2014 when the survey found that 69 per cent of positions were filled from an average of 2.0 suitable applicants per vacancy.
o In 2013, 93 per cent of advertised positions were filled from 2.9 suitable applicants per vacancy.
 In metropolitan areas 100 per cent of vacancies were filled from an average of 23.5 applicants and 4.0 suitable applicants per vacancy. 83 percent of regional vacancies were filled from an average of 11.8 applicants and 2.8 suitable applicants per vacancy.

i.e. VIC is getting even more competitive than NSW and Melbourne is just chockers.

Sorry if i'm reviving an old thread.

Being a pharmacist has it advantages though
-Pharmacists/Chemists are recession proof. Just like doctors. If people are sick, they have to buy drugs, they don't have a choice.

-Pharmaceutical drugs can be marked up to ridiculous amounts without the consumer knowing. How do you know how much xxxx costs when you buy it for the first time?

-Just like any profession. If you do well enough at uni, you don't have to find a job, the job will find you. So if you are explaining this to AN, where everyone is basically a genius, the prevailing stats won't matter much

[Tomw2]

-Pharmacists/Chemists are recession proof. Just like doctors. If people are sick, they have to buy drugs, they don't have a choice.

It's a bit different though for a number of reasons. Foremost, the vast majority of pharmacists are primarily employed and derive income from the private sector, whereas medical practitioners - even those who are in private businesses and institutions - derive a large amount of income from the public purse.

Secondly, the scope of practice is very small and significant amounts of it can be delegated to non-pharmacy workers under supervision.

Furthermore, outside of hospitals, pharmacy is largely a retail profession - anything that affects consumer demand affects pharmacies greatly. The involvement of large chain retailers (e.g. Chemist Warehouse) changes people's perception and expectations of pharmacies and their pattern of demand. It is already apparent that the conditions and available work is shrinking. It would be even worse in a troubled economy.

-Pharmaceutical drugs can be marked up to ridiculous amounts without the consumer knowing. How do you know how much xxxx costs when you buy it for the first time?

Apologies, could you explain what you mean by this a little more? In the context of advantages to being a pharmacist.

-Just like any profession. If you do well enough at uni, you don't have to find a job, the job will find you.

Yes and no. I can't comment much on other professions, but health professions can be little different. Academic transcripts become less important at a point - for example, the difference between a person with a 70% average and a 80% average in terms of how effective, skilled and valuable they are as a health practitioner is unclear and doesn't necessarily translate to 'better job opportunity'.

Also when markets get saturated with inexperienced graduates, the issue also becomes not only whether you are or are not employed, but also what kind of jobs are available and what the conditions of the jobs are.

In dentistry, where there has been a huge increase in graduate numbers and most services are delivered privately, you're not guaranteed a job, and certainly not a 'good' job if you aced your uni course. You may apply for dozens and dozens of jobs, start at one and find an area has become so saturated that instead of seeing 8-12 patients a day, you are down to 3-4. Over time, this causes you to become deskilled in both absolute terms and relative to any peers who are regularly seeing 8-12 patients a day.

Even all this rambling above is but a small consideration of a very limited number of the issues. And pharmacy, while most definitely being a valuable and potentially satisfying profession, has many workforce and professional issues facing it at this time.