**3. Results**

Figure 3 represents trends in the median hourly wages received by pharmacy technicians between 1997 and 2018. Median hourly wages across all pharmacy technicians have increased from \$8.39/hour in 1997 (which, adjusting based on changes in the US CPI is the equivalent to \$13.18/hour in 2018) to \$15.72/hour in 2018. Variation in median hourly wages is noted between the settings where pharmacy technicians work. Median hourly wages for pharmacy technicians in 2018 ranged from \$14.65/hour in chain and independent pharmacies and \$14.73/hour in food store pharmacies to \$17.97/hour in hospitals and \$21.10/hour in governmen<sup>t</sup> settings. It should also be noted that the median hourly wage in the United States in May 2018 for all workers across all occupations was \$18.58/hour [24].

**Figure 3.** Median Hourly Wages for Pharmacy Technicians, by work setting, from 1997 to 2018.

Figure 4 represents the trends in wage premiums in pharmacy technician hourly wages which occurred between 1997 and 2018. Pharmacy technician median hourly wages consistently experienced positive wage premiums from base years prior to 2007, meaning that the median hourly earnings of technicians from the base year to 2018 were higher than would had been expected had their hourly wages increased by the CPI. Since 2007, pharmacy technicians in the United States have been much less likely to experience positive wage premiums. In the 2009 and 2010 base years, median hourly wages for pharmacy technicians were \$0.35/hour and \$0.25/hour less than what would had been expected than if their wages had kept up with the CPI over that time. The wage premiums experienced by pharmacy technicians since 2006 have been very similar to those experienced by all workers in all occupations in the US over that time.

The presence and absence of wage premiums also varied between sectors of the US pharmacy technician workforce. Pharmacy technicians in grocery store settings have been experiencing negative wage premiums since 2000, some earning over \$1.00/hour less than would have been expected given changes in CPI. On the other hand, pharmacy technicians in mass merchandiser settings experienced higher wages than would have been expected by changes in CPI for all years up to 2016.

*Pharmacy* **2020**, *8*, 42

**Figure 4.** Mean Annual Hourly Wage Premiums for Pharmacy Technicians, from 1997 to 2018, and All Occupations, from 2001 to 2018.
