This is archived content, for historical reference only.

This series of quick reference guides from the CHCF California Health Care Almanac examines specific segments of the state’s health care workforce, focusing on pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, physician assistants, health diagnostic and treatment therapists, clinical laboratory scientists and technicians, and imaging professionals.

Among the trends:

• California’s supply of pharmacists grew 15% between 2001 and 2012, while the supply of pharmacy technicians increased by 70%. About half of the state’s pharmacists were trained in California.
• The number of physician assistants (PAs) in California grew 47% between 2001 and 2012. The Northern and Sierra region had more licensed PAs per capita than any other region in the state.
• The supply of occupational, physical, and respiratory therapists, as well as speech-language pathologists increased between 2001 and 2012.
• Between 2001 and 2012, California’s supply of clinical laboratory scientists declined by 15%, while the number of medical/clinical lab technicians rose 18%.

Additional data and analysis on this topic is available from Healthforce Center at UCSF, the California Hospital Association, the National Center for Education Statistics, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The quick reference guides are available for download below. These materials are part of CHCF’s California Health Care Almanac, an online clearinghouse for key data and analyses describing the state’s health care landscape. See our entire collection of current and past editions of California’s Health Care Workforce.