Determinants of Full-Time versus Part-Time Job Vacancies in US Pharmacies

Abstract

Manpower shortages in health care provision appear to be more notorious in pharmacy, and so it is a continuing subject for both economic analysis and policy debate. At the same time, employer practices and employee job preferences are becoming more flexible and efforts are being made to bring them into alignment (e.g., through "sign-on bonus" offers). Therefore, this study constructs an economic model of the determinants of full-time versus part-time job opportunities for US pharmacists. Controlling for a number of fixed effects (e.g., US regions), the paper takes into account demand and supply factors in the estimation of a logit regression model fitted to micro-data for the 1990s. The findings indicate that the probability of full-time job vacancies tends to favor management than staff pharmacist positions. There is also no statistically significant difference in the odds of full-time job openings for clinical versus management positions, and the production of new Pharm.D. degree graduates involving prolonged schooling tends to worsen pharmacists' shortages. Finally, the growth of pediatric (age < 5), early adult (ages 18-24), and senior adult (ages 65-74) population cohorts is likely to raise the demand for professional pharmacists in the near future. This has implications for the new Medicare prescription drug benefits that just began in January 2006. Additional policy implications are given.