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Pharmacy Technicians

Healthcare Practitioners and Technical · SOC 29-2052

7.3% AI Exposure — Medium
$45,750
Median Annual Salary
Bright ↗
O*NET Outlook
38,300
Proj. Annual Openings
471,680
Employment (OEWS 2025)
+2%/yr
Empl. growth (2019–2025)
93/100
AI Resiliency Score

AI exposure from the Anthropic Economic Index (2025); salary from BLS; skills from O*NET. See /sources.

Decision card

Career Evidence Passport

SOC 29-2052 evidence across exposure, wages, projections, postings, certified LCAs, skills, and transitions.

Proxy / seed data labeledDescriptive-only
SOC exposure
7.4%
Medium · Anthropic AEI
Automation friction
57/100
Moderate friction; broad SOC seed ORS job-requirements coverage.
Wages
$45,750
H-1B offered wage $52,000; LCAs are filings.
Projected openings
38,300
BLS EP 2024–2034; employment change +6.4%.
Observed/proxy demand
5
FY2025 certified LCAs; 72,074 postings in 2025.

Skill evidence

Active ListeningReading ComprehensionSpeakingCritical ThinkingActive Learning
  • H-1B values are certified Labor Condition Applications, not visa approvals.
  • Job postings are seed-static / seed-derived; treat as provider-ready proxy coverage until observed provider data is wired in.
  • Transition matches are directional skill-overlap context, not placement guarantees.
  • This release is a FutureGrid broad-SOC seed derived from public BLS ORS requirement concepts and categories, not direct occupation-level ORS survey estimates. It describes job requirements, not worker ability, AI capability, or displacement probability. Automation friction is a FutureGrid derived score and should be read alongside exposure, demand, wage, and projection signals.

Best transitions from here

Explore all pathways

Lower AI-exposure roles that reuse your skills, ranked by a transition score (skills that transfer, safety gain, pay and retraining effort).

AI Exposure Analysis

AI Exposure7.3%
AI Resiliency93/100
Exposure BandMedium
Sector Avg. Exposure5.4%

Across AI measures

Multiple exposure lenses for this occupation.

37.9%
Consensus
Actual adoption · Anthropic7.4%
AI capability · OpenAI42.6%
AI ability · AIOE63.8%
Automation baseline (2013) · Frey & Osborne92%

AI could do ~42.6% of this role but only ~7.4% is currently done with AI — a large capability-vs-adoption gap.

Top Skills

1.Active Listening
2.Reading Comprehension
3.Speaking
4.Critical Thinking
5.Active Learning

H-1B Visa Sponsorship Demand

View full H-1B trends →

Certified H-1B Labor Condition Applications naming this occupation, FY2016–FY2025. A descriptive high-skill labor-demand signal — employer filings, not visa approvals or individual outcomes. Note: one LCA can cover multiple worker positions.

116
Decade Total (Certified LCAs)
5
FY2025 Volume
0% of all H-1B filings in FY2025
$52,000
Median Offered Wage (Latest Year)
#317 of 776
Rank by Total Volume
H-1B filing volume, FY2016–FY2025

O*NET occupation profile

What this work involves

Prepare medications under the direction of a pharmacist. May measure, mix, count out, label, and record amounts and dosages of medications according to prescription orders.

Common titles: Accredited Pharmacy Technician, Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT), Chemotherapy Pharmacy Technician (Chemo Pharmacy Technician), Compounding Technician, OR Pharmacy Tech (Operating Room Pharmacy Tech), RPhT (Registered Pharmacy Technician)

Representative Tasks

  • Receive written prescription or refill requests and verify that information is complete and accurate.
  • Enter prescription information into computer databases.
  • Establish or maintain patient profiles, including lists of medications taken by individual patients.
  • Maintain proper storage and security conditions for drugs.
  • Receive and store incoming supplies, verify quantities against invoices, check for outdated medications in current inventory, and inform supervisors of stock needs and shortages.

Detailed Work Activities

  • Perform clerical work in medical settings.
  • Verify accuracy of patient information.
  • Enter codes or other information into computers.
  • Enter information into databases or software programs.
  • Enter patient or treatment data into computers.

Tools & Technologies

Microsoft Excel · hotMicrosoft PowerPoint · hotApple Safari · hotMEDITECH software · hotMicrosoft Edge · hotMozilla Firefox · hotDatabase softwareDrug compatibility softwareMedical condition coding softwarePatient record maintenance software

Employment Projections & AI Exposure

15
Occupations Shown
2.6%
Avg AI Exposure
14
Bright Outlook
Horizontal bar chart showing occupations with the highest projected annual openings. Each bar length represents annual projected openings. Color uses a gradient from violet (lower) to cyan (higher). Summary statistics are shown above the chart.

Employment & Wage Trend

BLS OEWS, 2019–2025


Occupation Employment & Wage TrendMulti-year BLS OEWS history for SOC 29-2052: 2019 — employment: 417,780, median wage: $33,950; 2020 — employment: 415,310, median wage: $35,100; 2021 — employment: 436,630, median wage: $36,740; 2022 — employment: 453,630, median wage: $37,790; 2023 — employment: 460,280, median wage: $40,300; 2025 — employment: 471,680, median wage: $45,750.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). See /sources.

Sector Comparison

MetricThis CareerSector Average
AI Exposure7.3%5.4%
OutlookBright ↗62% Bright
Median Salary$45,750N/A
AI Resiliency93/100N/A