Walmart raising pharmacy tech wages amid tight labor market

Walmart and Sam’s Club will increase the pay of their pharmacy technicians to more than $20 an hour starting this week. 

The pay increase will go into effect this week for the company’s more than 36,000 pharmacy technicians, the companies said in a news release.

“We are sending a strong signal to pharmacy technicians everywhere that Walmart is serious about attracting top talent and giving them the tools to build a successful career,” the statement added.

The company also said that technicians would receive more frequent, automatic raises worth up to $4 added to their starting base pay over four years. Walmart will also pay in full for the cost of getting certified as a pharmacy technician. 

The new changes come after Walmart and Sam’s Club technicians already saw another pay increase in August amid a push to attract more workers.

An American Society of Health System Pharmacists survey from March showed that nearly all pharmacy administrators were increasing their use of overtime to combat the short supply of pharmacy technicians. It also said 90 percent of pharmacy administrators asked pharmacists to do tasks usually completed by technicians. 

The same survey indicated that three-quarters of pharmacy technicians said a pay increase would help with retention. 

Nationally, the labor market in recent weeks has been strong. 

A Fitch Ratings report from last month showed that the U.S. was expected to recover all jobs lost in the pandemic by the end of the year.

It noted that all states except Hawaii and Louisiana had recovered at least 70 percent of the jobs lost at the peak of the pandemic.

Thirteen states, including Arizona, Colorado, Florida and Georgia, are already back to the job levels seen before the pandemic. 

The most recent May jobs report showed a slight slow down in terms of job market growth, which was largely expected by economists. 

“As we move to a new period of stable, steady growth, we should expect to see more moderation,” President Biden said of the report. 

“That’s a sign of a healthy economy with steady growth, rising wages for working families, everyday costs easing up,” the president added.