Job prospects Community Pharmacist in Alberta

Explore current and future job prospects for people working as a "community pharmacist" in Alberta or across Canada.

Job opportunities in Alberta

These outlooks were updated on November 29, 2023.

Prospects over the next 3 years

The employment outlook will be good for Pharmacists (NOC 31120) in Alberta for the 2023-2025 period.

The following factors contributed to this outlook:

• Employment growth will lead to several new positions.
• Not many positions will become available due to retirements.
• There are a small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

Alberta’s population and its proportion of residents aged 65+ are predicted to increase over the next 20 years, contributing to demand for this occupation. Alberta’s Budget 2023 allocates $24.5 billion for health services in 2023-24, an increase of $965 million or 4.1% from 2022-23, including $54 million over three years for a new program to renovate and upgrade 33 pharmacies in 20 AHS facilities to meet new standards for sterile compounding adopted by the Alberta College of Pharmacists. Alberta plans to reform the management structure of Alberta Health Services this year which may have implications for job seekers.

Here are some key facts about Pharmacists in Alberta:

• Approximately 5,350 people work in this occupation.
• Pharmacists mainly work in the following sectors:
  • Other retail stores (NAICS 44-45, except 445): 74%
  • Hospitals (NAICS 622): 20%
• The distribution of full-time and part-time workers in this occupation is:
  • Full-time workers: 82% compared to 80% for all occupations
  • Part-time workers: 18% compared to 20% for all occupations
• 75% of pharmacists work all year, while 25% work only part of the year, compared to 61% and 39% respectively among all occupations. Those who worked only part of the year did so for an average of 46 weeks compared to 42 weeks for all occupations.
• 16% of pharmacists are self-employed compared to an average of 15% for all occupations.
• The gender distribution of people in this occupation is:
  • Men: 39% compared to 53% for all occupations
  • Women: 61% compared to 47% for all occupations
• The educational attainment of workers in this occupation is:
  • no high school diploma: n/a
  • high school diploma or equivalent: less than 5% compared to 28% for all occupations
  • apprenticeship or trades certificate or diploma: n/a
  • college certificate or diploma or university certificate below bachelor's: less than 5% compared to 19% for all occupations
  • bachelor's degree: 72% compared to 21% for all occupations
  • university certificate, degree or diploma above bachelor level: 25% compared to 9% for all occupations

Breakdown by region

Explore job prospects in Alberta by economic region.

Source Labour Market Information | Prospects Methodology

Labour market conditions over the next 10 years

Explore current and future job prospects for people working as a "community pharmacist" Pharmacists (NOC 31120) or across Canada.

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