1. Introduction
Pharmacy was once a profession comprised almost entirely of men; however, with the increase in the number of female pharmacists the face of pharmacy has changed. And with this change, the issue of salary disparities between male and female pharmacists continues to merit further investigation. At the core of this issue is the right for women to receive equal pay for equal work. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 that “precludes any wage irregularity on account of sex in substantially equal jobs” has been the stick used to gain equal pay for some women.1 However, previous research studies have shown that female pharmacists received less pay compared to their male counterparts. Equal pay should be of interest to the profession, when the (gender) demographic profile of current and graduating pharmacy students are taken into account. The percentage of female pharmacy graduates has grown steadily from only 12.9% in 1960 to 52.6% in 1984, to the current composition of nearly 67% nationwide.2, 3 and 4 Additionally, given the large percentage of male pharmacists retiring or nearing retirement age, females are expected to exceed the number of male pharmacists before 2010.
There have been a number of state and national salary surveys conducted over the past 20 years documenting the difference in salaries for male and female pharmacists.however, there has yet to be published a multistate study to examine these salary disparity issues in greater detail. Such a study whereby several states may be analyzed at the aggregate and individual level may clarify the salary disparity finding revealed in previous studies. As salary studies have been conducted with a national sample or an individual state sample, it is somewhat difficult to understand wage variability that may exist between states, gender disparities aside. For example, a lower or higher than average wage for a particular state may be the result of market forces such as cost of living or a hyper demand for pharmacists in that state. A multistate study may help begin to clarify some of these issues.
An additional limitation of many of these studies is that salary statistics have largely been presented as overall mean salaries without 原文请找腾讯752018766优,文'论~文.网http://www.youerw.com these demographic variables. As a result, the investigators conducted a multistate study that allows comparisons to be made among several states, whereas at the same time controlling for various demographic variables that alone may impact salary disparity.
2. Background
Researchers have conducted pharmacist salary survey studies for over 20 years. Although there have been some national and multistate salary studies, the majority are single state surveys. Additionally, the studies provide conflicting results as to whether salary disparities due to gender exist.
Of the studies published since 1983 studies that found salary disparities for female pharmacists, 2 of the studies surveyed hospital pharmacists only. Both of these studies found that females earned significantly less than males, when controlling for other variables. The first study was published by Oakley and Bradham in 1983. They found that male pharmacy directors in large hospitals received a median salary of $34,000, which was more than the median salary of $32,000 for their female counterparts in equivalent positions.1 Also, the data showed that male pharmacists had a mean salary of $43,212, whereas females had a mean salary of only $31,345. Stepwise regression analysis showed that females earned approximately $2,000 less than males with the same amount of experience, education, training, and age.13 The second study that found a difference in hospital pharmacists' salaries was published in 1989.15 In this study of Texas hospital pharmacists, Shepherd et al found that female pharmacists earned approximately $1,550 less than male pharmacists with the same characteristics, even after controlling for factors such as position, degree, seniority, hours worked per week, and the size of the hospital.15
However, the majority of studies that found a difference in salaries for male and female pharmacists based their findings on descriptive data only. In a 1987 study, Herfindal et al followed the careers of graduates from the University of California at San Francisco Doctor of Pharmacy program.14 Higher salary ranges for men suggested a possible disparity; however, there were a greater percentage of males in management positions, which might indicate that the difference was due to position rather than gender.
Another study reporting only descriptive data was a survey published by Drug Topics in 2003, which chronicled the salaries of pharmacists in hospital, retail, and independent settings. Male pharmacists had total incomes higher than females in every setting, even though females had a higher annual base salary in the chain settings. Male pharmacists earned $5,793 more in total income in independent settings, $6,583 in chains and $10,821 more in hospitals, respectively. Although it was not reported, the difference in annual total salary could have also been due to a higher percentage of male pharmacists in management positions or to more hours worked by males.