Question about Salaries in The Health Field

Pornboy69er on 27/02/2018 - 18:18

I'm in university studying science and trying to figure out what I want to do afterwards.

I know my options are limited, but I know that some fields I can go into are: physiotherapy, pharmacy, radiography, optometry.

Personally, I do not know anyone working in these fields, so that's why I thought I'd ask my question here.

I was wondering if anyone could give me a rough estimate on the salaries of these jobs. Payscale gives the following data:

Physiotherapy: median $64k
Pharmacy: median $65k
Radiography: median $64k
Optometry: median $84k

However, when I talk to other people (nurses in particular) they always tell me that physios earn a lot more money. I've heard people say that Pharmacists earn barely any money, but my friend who is studying pharmacy says that they earn 6 figures. Other threads in OzBargain and Whirlpool always call out optometrists and call them glorified salespeople, and that they don't really earn much.

I'm very confused and any personal stories/experiences will aid me. And in case someone out that is worried, NO I WILL NOT BASE MY DECISION ON THE SALARIES ALONE, but it's a good place to start in my opinion

Tl;dr, looking for salaries of physiotherapist, pharmacist, radiographer, optometrist.

Education & Work

Comments

  • bobbified on 27/02/2018 - 18:44
    +2

    I'm not in health myself, but my friends who are in that industry earn a lot of their money in overtime and locuming (contracting) around or they open their own businesses.

    My optometrist, physio and pharmacist friends all earn 6 figures!

  • [Deactivated] on 27/02/2018 - 18:48
    +1

    doing things which are not to do with health they pay more.
    eg It Business Analyst - $500-$800 per day on contract

    • Pornboy69er on 27/02/2018 - 21:08

      Unfortunately I have never studied IT (doing BSc, all biology and chemistry subjects). Moving away from biology/chemistry related jobs would probably be a last resort.

  • sahh on 27/02/2018 - 18:54
    +4

    The real money in these professions will come from people who set up their own business after accumulating some experience.

    • Pornboy69er on 27/02/2018 - 21:09

      Definitely seems like it.

  • mskeggs on 27/02/2018 - 18:57
    +1

    Nothing wrong with considering pay when thinking about jobs.
    If you want to be either a street circus performer or investment banker equally, salary could be a deciding factor.
    I think the payscale info is likely based on jobs that advertise pay rates, which will be mainly public health. My midwife partner earns another 25% on top of her pay rate by working rotating shifts and being on call, so it is quite conceivable the posted rates are substantially below actual pay even in public health.

  • Sdog8 on 27/02/2018 - 19:03
    +1

    For allied health professionals in the public sector in Victoria there are pretty well set out award rates, refer here: http://www.westernhealth.org.au/Careers/Documents/Salary%20R…

    Private sector is a different story. Depends on many factors such as whether you are an employee of a practice, independent contractor, own your own business etc.

  • pao2x on 27/02/2018 - 20:20
    +1

    What state are you on?

    http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/careers/conditions/Awards/healt…

    http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/careers/conditions/Awards/nurse…

    Pay is near the last pages

    If you are not an office hours worker you can easily get 25% on top

    • Pornboy69er on 27/02/2018 - 21:05

      I'm in Vic, but I would definitely consider moving interstate. Just depends on what uni I get accepted into

      Thank you for your answer

  • airzone on 27/02/2018 - 20:21
    +1

    Payscale seems to be reporting pretty low.. I did a sense check against myself, and I'm about $25k over median. And yet on Hays, I'm about 10k under.. I know which one of those I'll take to my next pay discussion.. lol

    • Pornboy69er on 27/02/2018 - 21:07

      That's exactly why I posted here. Every website seems to give a different figure, and having talked to one or two people online, it seemed like Payscale was giving a very low estimate.

  • jzdhgkd on 27/02/2018 - 21:05
    +2

    Ex pharmacist here

    Unless you work in hospital, own the business or work 60+hrs weekly then good luck earning 6 figures. Even in my day people were struggling to find a job that would pay $35/hr full time and from what I've gathered things are even worse now (at least in Sydney metro area.)

    $65k is probably about right for someone working 40hrs/week in retail pharmacy these days. It was a fairly enjoyable job though and I feel pharmacists are appreciated a lot more than most other professions.

    As for hospital:
    http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/careers/conditions/Awards/hsu_h…

    This is the award rate and you'd probably get another 15-20% on top for overtime/weekend/after hours rates etc so you can certainly get to the magical 6 digits after a few years of working.

  • nicread on 27/02/2018 - 21:21
    +1

    I'm a physio in Brisbane, $80k + super full-time

  • chickenthief on 27/02/2018 - 21:54
    +1

    Another thing to consider is the likelihood of getting a job. job market for physio is very good at the moment which i think theres no such thing as a physio that cant find work. we're onsite occupational physios and cant get enough physios so we have to resort to hiring occupational therapists. I do feel bad for them as we're enroaching into their territory but the fact is, many industrial manufacturers prefer physios as we can do simliar work and also treat injuries too. Lately we're even resorting to overseas physios who only have limited registration and have to work under someone.

    I typically do 8am - 8pm, 6 days a week and pull in 3900-4200 a week as a senior. worked out on a per-hour basis, its not as good as law or finance for my level of responsibility and experience. Typically most are on about 80-100k however our new grads start on 65k-68k which i think is better than when i was a junior lawyer in 2006 ($26/hour) and many in my law class had trouble even just getting work.

    Start a physio clinic and it'll very achievable to pull in 200-300k

  • shaz0316 on 28/02/2018 - 08:21

    Hi mate
    I'm an optometrist and I can tell you definitively that when I started the course it was for a highly trained clinician which gave a good wage. But since then a very particular large cooperation has come in which has aimed to lower the standard of the profession using its influence which over time will mean lower wages.

    5 years ago I would've recommended the profession, and I still would if all you want is a decent wage, but if you want a career that has an upward trajectory and aspire to more than just a job then you should look elsewhere.
    All the best mate.

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