Walgreens is presenting $75,000 bonuses to fight pharmacist shortage: report

If it wasn’t apparent just after far more than two many years of the pandemic, there aren’t plenty of workers, and Walgreens has confirmed the scope of the difficulty by presenting as a great deal as $75,000 to new pharmacists—just as a sign-on bonus.

The pharmacist lack is really actual.

Walgreens verified to Fortune that indicator-on bonuses are getting provided in find markets in all 50 states, but declined to affirm the dimensions of those people bonuses. The $75,000 bonus was first documented by the Wall Road Journal and subsequently by CNN.

“Sign-on bonuses now getting available do vary, and are component of a larger sized expense concentrated on recruitment and retention, as very well as recognizing our recent pharmacy employees for their hard get the job done and devotion,” reported a enterprise spokesperson in a statement to Fortune. “This is a person of several ways to tackle pharmacy staffing in some parts, in purchase to greatest fulfill the demands of our customers and people.”

The bonuses include stipulations that the pharmacists, at the time employed, have to stay for a certain period of time, in accordance to the Wall Road Journal.

As of 2021, the median fork out for a pharmacist in the U.S. was $128,570, in accordance to the Bureau of Labor Data (BLS), with an estimated 322,200 whole positions across the region. To be a Walgreens pharmacist, the firm involves candidates to have attained possibly an accredited bachelor’s diploma or higher in pharmacy, have attained a pharmacist license, have working experience filling prescriptions, and have attained a certification to execute vaccinations.

Above the following decade, there’s anticipated to be an approximated 2% drop in pharmacists, according to the Bureau of Labor Data, signaling that today’s shortage is not going to be solved by bonuses on your own. 

Walgreens’ bonuses for pharmacists symbolize just a person facet of the bigger potent labor marketplace, with lots of employers providing out their most significant raises in many years. And there are no guaranteed indications that it is likely to amazing off any time soon. 

For the earlier calendar year, the labor current market has been marked by conspicuous shortages, to start with in food assistance and hospitality coming out of the pandemic, then between nurses, instructors and other university staff members, truck drivers, pilots, and a lot more. This summer, 1000’s of pools throughout the U.S. couldn’t open up or had to prohibit hours mainly because there weren’t ample lifeguards to personnel them. 

Final week, the BLS released its most current work opportunities report, showing that the U.S. economic climate additional 528,000 careers in July, exceeding analysts’ predictions and calming fears that a recession is on the horizon. The report also exhibits that unemployment is down to a record 3.5%.

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