Pharmacist Jobs Available in SoCal and Southern California

Various pharmacist jobs and positions in Southern California are currently available and the total number of open opportunities, both full-time and part-time, has been steadily on the rise so far in 2022. Sometimes referred to as SoCal, Southern California is currently experiencing the same shortage of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians that's being seen throughout California, and basically throughout each of the fifty states in the USA.

According to Forbes Magazine, job opportunities for all medical professionals are currently rising exponentially nationwide. Yet many medical experts view the shortage of pharmacists as the most critical and immediate concern that the US Healthcare System is currently facing. Being the most accessible health care worker available to the general public, the pharmacist usually acts as the first "touchpoint" for a patient engaging with the US healthcare system. In fact, over ninety percent of all Americans reportedly live within five miles of a retail community pharmacy. Especially true in many rural areas of California, the shortage of pharmacists in SoCal, from Los Angeles down to San Diego, has had a noticeably negative effect on the quality of healthcare that the area's residents receive. The staffing shortage has led to reduced operating hours for many retail community pharmacies, greater prescription dispensing waiting times, decreased customer satisfaction with the pharmacy's operation, plus the turning away of some patients who were seeking to get COVID immunizations.

What Comprises Southern California?

Southern California, commonly shortened and referred to as SoCal by many people, is the area of California where over one-half (57%) of the entire state's resident's live. From Los Angeles down to San Diego, an estimated 23 million (22,680,010) people reside, versus the almost 40 million (39,538,223) people living in the entire state. This area includes not only Los Angeles (the 2nd largest city in the US with 3.9 million people) and San Diego (the 8th largest with 1.4 million), but also includes an additional fourteen cities with more than 200,000 residents and forty-eight cities of over 100,000 people each. Additionally, the counties of Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange are each in the top fifteen most populous counties in the entire nation.Along with LA and San Diego, some other notable SoCal cities include Palm Springs, Burbank, Hollywood, San Bernardino, Riverside, Pasadena, Ventura, Irvine, Glendale, Corona, Long Beach, Inglewood, and Sacramento (the Capital City of California). The Southern California coast is also famous for its beaches, and some the most popular are Malibu, Laguna Beach, La Jolla, and Hermosa Beach.

How Many Pharmacist Jobs in Southern California are there?

California has an estimated total of over 5,600 retail pharmacies currently in operation, by far the most of any state. The most recent numbers available reveal that about one-half (or fifty percent) of these retail pharmacy operations are located in SoCal, or Southern California. As the state with the most pharmacies, California obviously has the highest total of pharmacist jobs, with an estimated total of thirty-three thousand pharmacist jobs (33,130) throughout the entire state according to the most recent numbers from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (Occupational Employment and Wages Report, May 2021). The report also documented that the SoCal region has the top paying metropolitan areas in the nation for Pharmacists (with an annual average salary of between $127,000 - $168,000). The steady demand for pharmacists in SoCal will only continue to increase according to a recent article published in Pharmacy Times and is due to the growing expansion of the pharmaceutical industry in SoCal, along with the rising demand in the use of prescription drugs by an "aging" community.There are no "official and up-to-date" estimates that could be found for the total number of open positions available today for pharmacists in Southern California. However, a search today on the Indeed.com website (considered to be the largest and most often used job listing website in the US) lists 1,525 open job positions available when a search was performed for "Pharmacist Southern California". These open pharmacist job positions are in all types of pharmacy settings, including retail community pharmacies, chain store and grocery pharmacies, as well as institutions, clinics, hospital pharmacies and specialty pharmacies (such as compounding pharmacies, IV infusion pharmacies and mail-order pharmacy operations).What's also interesting to note from performing several Indeed searches, is that there are also 4,217 available open job positions for Pharmacy Technicians in Southern California currently. Along with the rest of the country, SoCal has been hit hard by the pharmacy staffing shortage in the area of Pharmacy Techs. What the National Community Pharmacists Association's (NCPA) 2021 economic health report revealed was that 68% of independent pharmacies reported having a difficult time filling Pharmacist staffing positions, but a staggering 88% reported that pharmacy technicians are the most difficult pharmacy job position to currently fill. Many workforce experts agree that pharmacy technicians were perhaps among the jobs most affected by the COVID pandemic regarding the area of "employee burnout" and many simply left the workforce feeling underpaid, overworked and stressed out to go work in different job fields.

Are you a Pharmacist looking for a Job in SoCal?

Whether you're a Pharmacist currently living in Southern California that's looking for a new job, or a Pharmacist planning on moving to the SoCal area in the immediate or near future and are currently in the "planning phase", we strongly urge you to contact us here at Healthcare Consultants Pharmacy Staffing (HCC) today.  HCC is a nationally renowned pharmacy staffing company that has been a leader in matching qualified pharmacists and pharmacy technician candidates to the right job and employer in all fifty states since 1989. Pharmacy staffing and Pharmacist placement have been our primary business now for over three decades.Additionally, here at HCC, our staffing experts are experienced regarding APh Jobs (or Advanced Practice Pharmacist Jobs), the new category of Pharmacists that the California Pharmacists Association helped to create. An APh has vastly expanded job skills, and they can perform patient assessments, order and interpret drug therapy-related tests, refer patients to other healthcare providers, and help manage patients with chronic conditions and diseases.Headquartered in Central Florida, HCC has an in-house team of trained consultants that can help assist registered pharmacists to find a job that matches their skills and experience, plus fits their lifestyle and needs. Call us at (800) 642-1652 or click here now to let us know your availability and a pharmacy staffing expert will get right back to you to discuss which potential job opportunities best match your skills, needs, and lifestyle requirements. Rest assured that Healthcare Consultants Pharmacy Staffing is a part of your team, helping you find the RIGHT Pharmacist job in Southern California!