[knok]

That might be true. That's why I said, "I do not convince anyone to migrate at this time", but for those who have other reasons to stay, I am not sure what I would say.

The economy is a main factor this year. Banks cannot offer loans and businesses cannot expand. However, let's see in the future. Baby Boomer is another factor that will increase prescription volume. It is normal for businesses in the US to lay off employees in a tough time. It happens. When sales drop in one store in an area, the other will usually grow. Of course, sales growth may not be as aggressively high as it used to be.

For International pharmacists who migrate for financial gain, I would pay more attention to US dollars value and depreciation before other factors. Five years from now, dollar value may drop. An important phenomenon is outsourcing that is the main factor that makes middle class people lose their jobs.

My friends from India told me that India has had a lot of job opportunities. Almost everything is outsourced to India. I hope that pharmacist jobs won't be sent out to other countries by using Information Technology some day by giving an excuse that shortage of pharmacists is the main cause of outsourcing. That would be scary for American pharmacists more than anything else. My major is also Information Technology. Once outsourcing starts, it will happen so fast. If the shortage is real and America cannot find pharmacists, who will suffer?

In some areas, it is saturated but others are in need. We may just need to work harder to find jobs if we have to stay for some reason. Some hospitals do not have pharmacists after midnight because they cannot find pharmacists. I would say that "shortage or not" depends on regulations and how high standard pharmacy board will set for pharmacy industry. If the board allows a pharmacist to fill 500 prescriptions per day, the shortage may not be severe in that context. Pharmacists suffer anyway. Store owners don't want to pay for 2 pharmacists because of high salaries of pharmacists while pharmacists choose to work only 4 days a week because of being strain during their work. It depends on perspectives. I won't argue with anyone whether it has shortage or not. Shortage may disappear immediately if, one day, pharmacy board allows pharmacy which runs overnight do the same as some hospitals.

Anything that is out of balance causes problems seriously either way. It depends on standard of "Patient Safety."