RAVEN'S Recruitment is set to release its 2025 Pharmacy Salary and Market Report, now in its eighth edition.
The guide sheds light on salary trends within the pharmacy industry across Australia and New Zealand for both locum and permanent roles, as well as highlighting the key business impacts of the past year.
It provides comprehensive remuneration data for different pharmacist roles, broken down by state and territory, as well as metropolitan versus regional and rural locations, providing a valuable tool for salary negotiation.
Overall, permanent pharmacist salaries have seen a small increase across rural and metropolitan locations nationally, with the 2025 salary ranges for the role of 'pharmacist' shown in the chart above by state/territory.
"While encouraging, the shift is not as pronounced as many might have hoped, given the ongoing workload and evolving expectations around pharmacist roles," said Heidi Dariz, General Manager of Raven's Recruitment.
An exception is the position of Pharmacist in Charge (PIC), where salaries in all capital cities are now consistently exceeding the $100,000 threshold.
"This represents a significant psychological and financial milestone for the profession, indicating increased recognition of the PIC's responsibilities, leadership requirements and operational oversight," Dariz said.
In rural areas, salaries for pharmacist managers have remained flat over the past 12 months.
However, Dariz pointed out, wages in these roles were already comparatively high due to historical recruitment and retention challenges in remote communities.
Intern pharmacists are one of the few positions that have traditionally still received a salary package based on the Pharmacy Industry Award.
However, this year has seen a substantial increase in base salary.
"Offering more competitive base salaries may be an attempt to attract strong candidates in a tight labour market, or to retain pharmacy graduates in the profession amid increasing competition from other healthcare-based roles," Dariz suggested.
For locum roles, there has been a slight upward shift in minimum rates, reflecting a growing awareness of cost-of-living pressures and the need to remain competitive in attracting talent, particularly for short-term placements in regional and remote areas.
"While the lower end has risen, the upper end of locum rates has remained relatively unchanged, which suggests a plateau in what employers are willing to pay," Dariz told Pharmacy Daily.
She also talked about the recent increases in award wages, and the expected impact on wages more generally.
"While many pharmacists already earn above the award wage, particularly in rural settings where demand is high, the adjustment will reset the wage floor and potentially influence future enterprise bargaining agreements and market negotiations," Dariz explained.
"Over the next two to three years, it will be interesting to observe how this increase shapes overall remuneration trends - whether it compresses wage differentials or drives further growth across all experience levels."
Dariz will be presenting key data from the report at the Pharmacy Careers Summit 2025 on 04 Jul, with a downloadable copy of the report available HERE. KB
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