Dive Brief:
- Healthcare salaries are mostly on the rise, particularly for registered nurses, pharmacy technicians and medical assistants, according to a report published by Glassdoor on Tuesday.
- Salaries for these professions increased above salaries for the average employee across the nation and in five metropolitan areas tracked.
- Physical therapists were the only healthcare profession tracked that saw an average decline in salaries.
Dive Insight:
The Glassdoor Economic Research Blog notes the data reflect other research that show strong demand for healthcare workers. Glassdoor tracked salary data for registered nurses, physical therapists, pharmacy technicians, physicians, medical assistants, medical technologists and emergency medical technicians (EMT).
Over the past year, average salaries for registered nurses grew 3.4% to $61,306; pharmacy technicians grew 4.4% to $30,522; medical assistants grew 6.3% to $33,244; physicians grew 2.7% to $197,297; medical technologists grew 0.1% to $53,221. Average physical therapist salaries fell 2.3% to $69,559 while average EMT salaries stayed put at $35,984.
There was some variance in salaries from one metropolitan area to another. Registered nurse salaries in all five metropolitan areas included – Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco – were higher than the national average. However, the average registered nurse salary in Los Angeles is $86,731 compared to $71,216 in Houston.
Salaries for employees in San Francisco tended to be higher than in other metropolitan areas. However, salary growth has been more pronounced in San Francisco for all industries than in the rest of the country.