Collecting donations for blood banking and transfusion or for diagnostic testing, is one of the cornerstones of modern medicine. This crucial role is played by a group of trained medical technicians known as phlebotomists. Blood must always be handled correctly to preserve the integrity of samples or donations and to minimize its risk as a biohazard to the phlebotomist. Phlebotomy training is shorter than for most other medical careers, and phlebotomists' wages are correspondingly lower.
Bureau of Labor Statistics
The Bureau of Labor Statistics includes phlebotomists with other medical and clinical laboratory technicians in its Occupational Outlook Handbook. However, phlebotomists' salary data are categorized under "Healthcare Support Workers" in the Occupational Employment Statistics. In May 2011, the bureau reported an average income of $15.50 per hour or $32,240 per year for this group. Broken down by percentage, the lowest-earning 25 percent reported incomes of up to $12.30 per hour or $25,020 per year. The median income was $14.80 per hour or $30,790 per year, and the highest-earning 25 percent reported incomes exceeding $18.19 per hour or $37,840 per year.
ASCP Salary Survey
The statistics bureau figures include the wages of other hospital staff along with those of phlebotomists. That's not the case with an annual salary survey performed by the American Society for Clinical Pathology, which provides numbers for phlebotomists alone. The society's 2010 survey reported an average wage of $13.50 per hour for phlebotomists at the staff level, or $28,080 per year at 40 hours per week. This is inflated slightly by the wages paid by standalone laboratories, which paid an average of $16.74 per hour. If laboratories are excluded, the average wage for staff phlebotomists was $13.41 per hour, or $27,892 per year.
The ASCP and other industry bodies offer voluntary certification programs for phlebotomists who wish to demonstrate their expertise and professionalism. Employers value certification, and the ASCP's salary survey showed that certified phlebotomists earned roughly 10 percent more than their non-certified peers. Geographically, California offered the highest wages in the country at an average of $23.36 per hour or $45,588 per year. Wages were lowest in Ohio, at an average of $12.10 per hour or $25,168 per year. Phlebotomists in supervisory roles reported an average wage of $20.08 per hour, or $41,766 per year.
In addition to its salary survey, the ASCP performs an annual vacancy survey to assess staffing needs throughout the country's pathology labs. The 2011 edition of the study reported a vacancy rate of 7.89 percent for staff-level phlebotomists overall, and 18.9 percent in outpatient clinics. This means the profession must grow to that extent, just to fill current openings. The statistics bureau projects that demand for laboratory technicians in general will increase by 15 percent between 2010 and 2020, creating additional employment prospects for phlebotomists.
- Explore Health Careers: Phlebotomist
- American Medical Association: Health Care Careers Directory -- Phlebotomist
- Bureau of Labor Statistics: Occupational Employment Statistics -- Healthcare Support Workers, All Other
- American Society for Clinical Pathology’s 2010 Wage Survey of U.S. Clinical Laboratories
- American Society for Clinical Pathology’s 2011 Vacancy Survey of U.S. Clinical Laboratories
- Bureau of Labor Statistics: Occupational Outlook Handbook -- Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technologists and Technicians
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