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Pharmacy Sales Assistants

ANZSCO ID 6214

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Overview

Snapshot

Employed
35,200
Future Growth
7.7%
Weekly Earnings
$919
Full-Time Share
26%
Female Share
90%
Average age
26
About this data

Summary

Pharmacy Sales Assistants sell pharmaceutical goods, toiletries and related goods in retail pharmacies (Pharmacy Technicians are not included here, they are included in Medical Technicians).

Tasks

  • accepting prescriptions for filling by Retail Pharmacists

  • determining customer requirements and advising customers on the selection, price and usage of non-prescription medicines

  • advising customers on the correct application and storage of medicines

  • selling goods such as non-prescription drugs, first aid supplies, toiletries and cosmetics

  • accepting payment for goods and services by a variety of payment methods and preparing sales invoices

  • promoting goods and services that are for sale

  • assisting with the ongoing management of stock such as product inventories and participating in stocktakes

  • stacking and displaying goods for sale, and wrapping and packing goods sold

Characteristics

Job Type
Sales Workers
Skill Level
Lower skill
ANZSCO Occupation group
6214 Pharmacy Sales Assistants This occupation is Current selected
Unemployment Rate
Below average
Industries
Pathway(s)
  • Vocational Education and Training (VET)
  • Informal or on-the-job
Interests
  • Practical
  • Administrative
Physical Demand
  • Sedentary
  • Light
  • Medium

Outlook

Employment Outlook

JSA produces employment projections to show where likely future job opportunities may be. The latest data are for the five years from November 2021 to November 2026. Over this period, the number of workers:

  • is expected to grow moderately
  • is likely to reach 27,600 by 2026.

    • Source: Jobs and Skills Australia Employment Projections to 2026.

    Notes: The number employed includes people who work in this occupation as their main job. People who work in more than one job are counted against the occupation they work the most hours in.

    Employment projections figures are rounded to the nearest 100. Calculations based on these rounded figures may result in differences to the numbers that are displayed on this page. Employment projections data (including occupations) can be downloaded from the Employment Projections page.

Projected Change
7.7%
(or 2,000 jobs)
From
25,600
in 2021
To
27,600
in 2026

Number of Workers

Source: ABS Labour Force Survey, ABS seasonally adjusted data to November 2021 and Jobs and Skills Australia Employment Projections to 2026.
Year Employment
2011 32,900
2012 29,700
2013 41,100
2014 37,100
2015 43,100
2016 36,600
2017 34,300
2018 37,500
2019 33,400
2020 39,300
2021 25,600
2026 27,600

Source: ABS Labour Force Survey, ABS seasonally adjusted data to November 2021 and Jobs and Skills Australia Employment Projections to 2026.

Earnings and hours

Working arrangements

  • Around 28% of people employed as Pharmacy Sales Assistants work full-time hours, in all their jobs combined. This is 38 percentage points below the all jobs average (66%).

    Full-time workers work an average of 39 hours per week in their main job. This is 5 hours less than the all jobs average (44 hours per week).

    Median full-time earnings are $919 per week, this is much lower than the all jobs median ($1,593):

    • 3 in 4 workers earn more than $836
    • 1 in 4 earn more than $987

    Median hourly earnings are $24, this is lower than the all jobs median ($41 per hour).

    Sources: Full-time share and full-time hours: ABS, 2016 Census, customised report. Compared to the all jobs average. Full-time median earnings and median hourly earnings: ABS, Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2021. Compared to all jobs median.

Weekly Earnings (Before Tax)

Source: Based on ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2021, Customised Report. Median weekly total cash earnings for full-time non-managerial employees paid at the adult rate. Earnings are before tax and include amounts salary sacrificed. Earnings can vary greatly depending on the skills and experience of the worker and the demands of the role. These figures should be used as a guide only, not to determine a wage rate.
Earnings Pharmacy Sales Assistants All Jobs Average
Full-Time Earnings 919 1,593
Total Earnings 0 0

Source: Based on ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2021, Customised Report. Median weekly total cash earnings for full-time non-managerial employees paid at the adult rate. Earnings are before tax and include amounts salary sacrificed. Earnings can vary greatly depending on the skills and experience of the worker and the demands of the role. These figures should be used as a guide only, not to determine a wage rate.

Industries

Main industries

1
Retail Trade
98.5%
2
Health Care and Social Assistance
0.9%
3
Wholesale Trade
0.6%
4
Public Administration and Safety
0.3%

  • Most Pharmacy Sales Assistants work in the Retail trade industry.

    Source: ABS Labour Force Survey, annual average 2021.

Regions

Employment across Australia

NSW

33.0% All occupations: 31.6%

VIC

24.3% All occupations: 25.6%

QLD

19.1% All occupations: 20.0%

SA

7.9% All occupations: 7.0%

WA

10.8% All occupations: 10.8%

TAS

2.6% All occupations: 2.0%

NT

0.6% All occupations: 1.0%

ACT

1.7% All occupations: 1.9%

Employment by State and Territory (% Share)

State Pharmacy Sales Assistants All Jobs Average
NSW 33.0 31.6
VIC 24.3 25.6
QLD 19.1 20.0
SA 7.9 7.0
WA 10.8 10.8
TAS 2.6 2.0
NT 0.6 1.0
ACT 1.7 1.9


Worker profile

Age and gender

Age In Years
26
All Jobs Average is 40
Female Share
90%
All Jobs Average is 48%

  • The median age of Pharmacy Sales Assistants is 26 years. This is younger than the all jobs average of 40 years.

    A large share of workers are aged 15 to 19 years.

    Females make up 90% of the workforce. This is 42 percentage points above the all jobs average of 48%.

    Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Age profile and gender share compared to the all jobs average.

Age Profile (% Share)

Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Age profile of workers in this job compared to the all jobs average.
Age Bracket Pharmacy Sales Assistants All Jobs Average
15-19 23.7 5.0
20-24 23.6 9.3
25-34 15.2 22.9
35-44 11.7 22.0
45-54 13.6 21.6
55-59 6.0 9.0
60-64 4.1 6.0
65 and Over 2.1 4.2
Median Age 26 40

Source: Based on ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Age profile of workers in this job compared to the all jobs average.

Employment Pathways

Education, training and experience

Formal qualifications are not usually required to work as a Pharmacy Sales Assistant. Some workers have a certificate II, III or IV in community pharmacy.

Visit

  • My Skills to compare Vocational Education and Training (VET) courses, providers and student outcomes.
  • AAPathways website to explore Retail Services VET training pathways.

Highest Level of Education (% Share)

Source: ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Highest qualification completed by workers in this job (in any field of study). Qualifications needed by new workers might be different from the qualifications of workers already in the job.
Type of Qualification Pharmacy Sales Assistants All Jobs Average
Post Graduate/Graduate Diploma or Graduate Certificate 1.8 10.1
Bachelor degree 9.0 21.8
Advanced Diploma/Diploma 6.3 11.6
Certificate III/IV 15.1 21.1
Year 12 37.2 18.1
Year 11 10.1 4.8
Year 10 and below 20.5 12.5

Source: ABS Census 2016, Customised Report. Highest qualification completed by workers in this job (in any field of study). Qualifications needed by new workers might be different from the qualifications of workers already in the job.

Skills and Knowledge

Employers look for Pharmacy Sales Assistants who can communicate well with a variety of people, can provide good customer service and are well presented.

Skills

Skills can be improved through training or experience.

  • 46%

    Reading comprehension

    Reading work related information.

  • 45%

    Serving others

    Looking for ways to help people.

  • 43%

    Active listening

    Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.

  • 41%

    Social perceptiveness

    Understanding why people react the way they do.

  • 41%

    Speaking

    Talking to others.

  • 41%

    Critical thinking

    Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.

  • 39%

    Coordination with others

    Being adaptable and coordinating work with other people.

  • 37%

    Monitoring

    Keeping track of how well work is progressing so you can make changes or improvements.

  • 36%

    Active learning

    Being able to use what you have learnt to solve problems now and again in the future.

  • 36%

    Writing

    Writing things for co-workers or customers.

  • 34%

    Complex problem solving

    Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.

  • 34%

    Mathematics

    Using maths to solve problems.

  • 32%

    Judgment and decision making

    Figuring out the pros and cons of different options and choosing the best one.

  • 32%

    Learning strategies

    Figuring out the best way to teach or learn something new.

  • 32%

    Time management

    Managing your own and other peoples' time to get work done.

  • 29%

    Instructing

    Teaching people how to do something.

  • 25%

    Persuasion

    Talking people into changing their minds or their behaviour.

  • 25%

    Quality control analysis

    Doing tests and checking products, services, or processes to make sure they are working properly.

  • 21%

    Systems analysis

    Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect it.

  • 20%

    Management of material resources

    Providing the right equipment, facilities, and materials needed to do work.

Knowledge

These are important topics, subjects or knowledge areas.

  • 64%

    Customer and personal service

    Understanding customer needs, providing good quality service, and measuring customer satisfaction.

  • 44%

    Law and government

    How our laws and courts work. Government rules and regulations, and the political system.

  • 40%

    Clerical

    Word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office work.

  • 36%

    Computers and electronics

    Circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

  • 36%

    English language

    English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

  • 35%

    Medicine and dentistry

    Diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities, including preventive health-care measures.

  • 34%

    Public safety and security

    Use of equipment, rules and ideas to protect people, data, property, and institutions.

  • 32%

    Mathematics

    Arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, or statistics.

  • 30%

    Administration and management

    Business principles involved in strategic planning, leadership, and coordinating people and resources.

  • 29%

    Education and training

    Curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

  • 29%

    Sales and marketing

    Showing, promoting, and selling including marketing strategy, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

  • 28%

    Communications and media

    Media production, communication, and dissemination. Includes written, spoken, and visual media.

  • 24%

    Psychology

    Human behaviour; differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; research methods; assessing and treating disorders.

  • 23%

    Therapy and counselling

    Diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and career counselling and guidance.

  • 23%

    Production and processing

    Raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and ways of making and distributing goods.

  • 20%

    Chemistry

    Chemical composition, structure, and properties. How chemicals are made, used, mixed, and can change.

  • 19%

    Mechanical

    Machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.

  • 17%

    Economics and accounting

    Economics and accounting, the financial markets, banking and checking and reporting of financial data.

  • 15%

    Telecommunications

    Transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.

  • 15%

    Geography

    Describing land, sea, and air, including their physical characteristics, locations, how they work together, and the location of plant, animal, and human life.

Abilities

Workers use these physical and mental abilities..

  • 57%

    Oral comprehension

    Listen to and understand what people say.

  • 52%

    Near vision

    See details that are up-close (within a few feet).

  • 50%

    Oral expression

    Communicate by speaking.

  • 48%

    Speech recognition

    Identify and understand the speech of another person.

  • 45%

    Written comprehension

    Read and understand written information.

  • 43%

    Problem spotting

    Notice when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong, even if you can't solve the problem.

  • 43%

    Speech clarity

    Speak clearly so others can understand you.

  • 43%

    Deductive reasoning

    Use general rules to find answers or solve problems logically.

  • 41%

    Finger dexterity

    Put together small parts with your fingers.

  • 39%

    Categorising

    Come up with different ways of grouping things.

  • 39%

    Far vision

    See details that are far away.

  • 39%

    Inductive reasoning

    Use lots of detailed information to come up with answers or make general rules.

  • 39%

    Sorting or ordering

    Order or arrange things in a pattern or sequence (e.g., numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).

  • 39%

    Trunk strength

    Use your abdominal and lower back muscles a number of times without 'giving out' or fatiguing.

  • 39%

    Written expression

    Write in a way that people can understand.

  • 37%

    Perceptual speed

    Use your eyes to quickly compare groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.

  • 36%

    Colour discrimination

    Notice differences between colours, including shades of colour and brightness.

  • 32%

    Mathematics

    Choose the right maths method or formula to solve a problem.

  • 32%

    Selective attention

    Pay attention to something without being distracted.

  • 30%

    Multitasking

    Do two or more things at the same time.

Activities

These are kinds of activities workers regularly do in this job.

  • 78%

    Looking for changes over time

    Comparing objects, actions, or events. Looking for differences between them or changes over time.

  • 73%

    Communicating within a team

    Giving information to co-workers by telephone, in writing, or in person.

  • 73%

    Monitoring people, processes and things

    Checking objects, actions, or events, and keeping an eye out for problems.

  • 73%

    Working with computers

    Using computers to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information.

  • 73%

    Assessing and evaluating things

    Working out the value, importance, or quality of things, services or people.

  • 73%

    Training and teaching others

    Understanding the needs of others, developing training programs, and teaching or instructing.

  • 71%

    Keeping your knowledge up-to-date

    Keeping up-to-date with technology and new ideas.

  • 71%

    Estimating amounts, costs and resources

    Working out sizes, distances, amounts, time, costs, resources, or materials needed for a task.

  • 70%

    Researching and investigating

    Looking for, getting and understanding different kinds of information.

  • 69%

    Working with the public

    Greeting or serving customers, clients or guests, and public speaking or performing.

  • 68%

    Leading and encouraging a team

    Encouraging and building trust, respect, and cooperation among team members.

  • 66%

    Guiding and directing staff

    Guiding and directing staff, including setting and monitoring performance standards.

  • 65%

    Making decisions and solving problems

    Using information to work out the best solution and solve problems.

  • 65%

    Checking for errors or defects

    Inspecting equipment, structures, or materials for errors, problems or defects.

  • 62%

    Building good relationships

    Building good working relationships and keeping them over time.

  • 62%

    Helping and caring for others

    Providing personal assistance, medical attention, or emotional support.

  • 50%

    Negotiating and resolving conflicts

    Handling complaints and disagreements, and negotiating with people.

  • 50%

    Checking compliance with standards

    Deciding whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards.

  • 47%

    Documenting or recording information

    Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form.

  • 42%

    Influencing people

    Convincing people to buy something or to change their minds or actions.

Interests and demands

Learn about the daily activities, and physical and social demands faced by workers. Explore the values and work styles that workers rate as most important.

Interests

Interests are the style or type of work we prefer to do. All interest areas are shown below.

  • 100%

    Administrative

    Following set procedures and routines. Working with numbers and details more than with ideas, usually following rules.

  • 67%

    Practical

    Practical, hands-on work. Often with plants and animals, or materials like wood, tools, and machinery.

  • 48%

    Enterprising

    Starting up and carrying out projects. Leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes require risk taking and often deal with business.

  • 48%

    Helping

    Working with people. Helping or providing service to others.

  • 38%

    Analytical

    Ideas and thinking. Searching for facts and figuring out problems in your head.

  • 14%

    Creative

    Working with forms, designs and patterns. Often need self-expression and can be done without following rules.

Values

Work values are important to a person’s feeling of satisfaction. All six values are shown below.

  • 71%

    Relationships

    Serve and work with others. Workers usually get along well with each other, do things to help other people, and are rarely pressured to do things that go against their sense of right and wrong.

  • 71%

    Support

    Supportive management that stands behind employees. Workers are treated fairly by their company, they are supported by management, and have supervisors who train them well.

  • 48%

    Independence

    Work alone and make decisions. Workers are able to try out their own ideas, make decisions on their own, and work with little or no supervision.

  • 43%

    Achievement

    Results oriented. Workers are able to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment.

  • 38%

    Recognition

    Advancement and the potential to lead. Workers are recognised for the work that they do, they may give directions and instructions to others, and they are looked up to in their company and their community.

  • 33%

    Working conditions

    Job security and good working conditions. There is usually a steady flow of interesting work, and the pay and conditions are generally good.

Demands

The physical and social demands that workers face most often are shown below:

  • 98%

    Indoors, heat controlled

    Work indoors with access to heating or cooling.

  • 98%

    Telephone

    Talk on the telephone.

  • 98%

    Spend time standing

    Spend time standing at work.

  • 97%

    Contact with people

    Have contact with people by telephone, face-to-face, or any other way.

  • 93%

    Teamwork

    Work with people in a group or team.

  • 91%

    Contact with the public

    Work with customers or the public.

  • 90%

    Being exact or accurate

    Be very exact or highly accurate.

  • 87%

    Face-to-face discussions

    Talk with people face-to-face.

  • 85%

    Physically close to people

    Work physically close to other people.

  • 83%

    Disease or infection

    Be exposed to disease or infections.

  • 79%

    Unstructured work

    Have freedom to decide on tasks, priorities, and goals.

  • 79%

    Angry or unpleasant people

    Deal with unpleasant, angry, or rude people.

  • 76%

    Lead or coordinate a team

    Lead others to do work activities.

  • 76%

    Repeating same tasks

    Repeat the same tasks or activities (e.g., key entry) over and over, without stopping.

  • 75%

    Consequence of error

    Work where mistakes have serious consequences.

  • 74%

    Electronic mail

    Use electronic mail.

  • 74%

    Freedom to make decisions

    Have freedom to make decision on your own.

  • 73%

    Using your hands to handle, control, or feel

    Spend time using your hands to handle, control, or feel objects, tools or controls.

  • 73%

    Making repetitive motions

    Spend time making repetitive motions.

  • 70%

    Letters and memos

    Write letters and memos.

Occupational Information Network
O*NET is a trademark of the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration.
The skills and importance ratings on this page are derived from the US Department of Labor O*NET Database Version 21.2, 31-9095.00 - Pharmacy Aides.

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