Will there be a decreased demand for Canadian pharmacists in near future……..

Based an article published in one of the pharmacy information sources, some experts say that there is a real threat that Canada may have too many pharmacists in the near future. Increasing enrollment at pharmacy faculties across the country, combined with the continuing influx of foreign-trained pharmacists mean there will be many pharmacists looking for jobs. According to Frank Abbott, executive director of the Association of Deans of Pharmacy of Canada, soon Canada will graduate 1200 pharmacists every year, up from 780 in the year 2000, which is about 35% growth in pharmacists. On the other hand, more pharmacists will be coming into the scene when the new faculty at the University of Waterloo begins graduating an estimated 120 pharmacy students every year. Mr. Abbott thinks that it’s going to become more competitive….Is it going to be true?
While pharmacist’s number is increasing, there is another issue which might have a dramatic impact on job opportunities for pharmacist is ‘regulation of pharmacy technicians'. As regulated techs expand their scope of practice to take on more dispensing functions, some pharmacies may appoint more techs and less pharmacists.

On the other hand, Zubin Austin, a pharmacy professor at the University of Toronto, says “Pharmacists have never had to compete with one another for jobs before and this has bred certain complacency in terms of thinking they can get any hob they want. Now they’ll need to demonstrate that they can offer more than a regulated tech”. This is sure sound so much better for pharmacists, at least me. He also says, “The good news is a more competitive job market will result in more innovative in practice because pharmacists will have to compete for jobs based their skills, not simply on having a degree”. I agree with this. Pharmacists should be recognized for their skills not to degrees. Another hope was given by Mr. Austin that, “The pharmacists with the best skills are going to rise to the top and get paid the most”

As pharmacists have the potential to do lot more than what they are doing right now, such as, providing new services like prescribing, medication checks, immunization, expanding their practice by managing therapy, they do not have to, in my opinion, worry about job competition in near future.
There are two other important factors Canadian pharmacists should consider to feel better about future job market are, number of retiring pharmacists and the continuing expansion of major pharmacy chains stores. I am sure they definitely create new job opportunities for future Canadian pharmacists. Let’s wait and see what happens