https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-16-047.html
So, this is kind of the scale that is used as the baseline benchmark for medicine and PhD research. Most physicians are paid 120% over the scale for a given year (meaning if it says $43k, the physicians get $51-52ish) on account of their obscene hours (but better now that ACGME is hammering down on excessive abuse). CMS DGME will NOT pay less than those rates for medical, dental, and surgical residencies that are under their funding criteria, and neither will any federal agency that provides healthcare with civilian employees that is not HHS (VA, USAID, Department of State MFSO, Agriculture) by pay interchange agreements. Since pharmacy isn't given money by CMS DGME, the pay is set wherever the market would bear, but I'd consider two things and tell my students the following:
1. I would flatly not accept pay (as in money not money equivalents unless you agree explicitly) lower than the NIH 0th year with mandatory benefits (meaning if the job requires you to have health insurance, the offer must include the ability to purchase employee health insurance at the employee rate) as a resident or fellow, period and both universities I am affiliated with and the civil service are contractually bound not to pay below this level (the NIH level is used for every HHS and VA full civilian staff, this does not apply to uniformed services). That did have a local effect on my alma mater when the joint faculty who work in the civil sercice took that public position as we consider any offer less than that would be unacceptable and we should pull joint sponsorship in those areas as we cannot offer less than that ourselves with our NIH/NSF/VA agreements. I can definitely say that everyone in the metropolitan statistical area at least pays the 0th year now.
2. If you have to staff, take the number of required staffing hours in the year and multiply by the lowest tier of staff pharmacist salary. For example, a resident staffs 12 times a year for 2 days at 10 hours on a weekend. The lowest staff pharmacist salary is $60 with the weekend differential. So, 2 * 12 * 10 * 60 = $14, 400. If this is more than a 1/3 of your resident's stipend (so any less than $43, 200), I would not personally accept this, but take a less dogmatic position when it comes to negotiating as it is practice specific.
But, if you matched, you agreed to the terms beforehand. However, I actually do give this talk before the P4's go out because being too poor when you are a resident leads to an inability to concentrate on the tasks at hand.
(And to those who prejudge the 'higher' renumeration to postdoctoral trainees, please spare me the lecture that midcareer teachers in my metropolitan area top out lower than that at $38k and that $43k is a solid middle class wage for everyone. The circumstances that surround a traineeship are intentionally not to be where you necessarily settle, so the increased $ is to pay for the move to the area, the increased cost of having temporary arrangements, to deal with the real material sacrifices that starting the family are like, and the inability to have other employment or real private time during the traineeship. At least pharmacy doesn't have the idea of the eternal postdoc/resident yet. I'm just waiting for the day when I get to choose between a 9-year experienced resident like I do with the eternal postdocs today. For all medical professions, it's already a stressful enough time and they aren't exactly making retirement money off it.)
