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Health Care | Pathology Laboratory Technician

Pathology Laboratory Technician

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

A Pathology Laboratory Technician helps with the performance of laboratory tests in laboratories that specify in pathology, or medical patient diagnosis. Sets up, operates, and maintains laboratory equipment, makes observations, and calculates and records results.

Job Outlook

There were 41 Pathology Laboratory Technician job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 2053 in the United States.

In combination with other careers in the Laboratory Technician industry, which includes the Pathology Laboratory Technician career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:

Salary

Many new Pathology Laboratory Technician jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.

National

The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $66,025.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $55,543.

Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Pathology Laboratory Technician postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $46,516.

Education and Experience

Posted Pathology Laboratory Technician jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.

Education LevelPercentage
Associate's Degree22.84%
Bachelor's Degree27.47%
Master's Degree4.24%
Doctoral Degree4.58%
Other34.29%

Posted Pathology Laboratory Technician jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.

Years of ExperiencePercentage
0 to 2 years78.26%
3 to 5 years18.28%
6 to 8 years1.67%
9+ years1.79%

Skills

Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Pathology Laboratory Technician positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.

Baseline Skills

A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.

  • Communication (24.21%)
  • Research (17.83%)
  • Quality Control (17.24%)
  • Detail Oriented (14.37%)
  • Clerical Works (12.13%)
  • Customer Service (11.4%)
  • Operations (10.91%)
  • Filing (10.62%)
  • Computer Literacy (9.5%)
  • Management (9.21%)

Defining Skills

A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.

  • Medical Laboratory (30.75%)
  • Histology (26.1%)
  • Pathology (75.58%)

Necessary Skills

A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.

  • Surgical Pathology (10.12%)
  • Laboratory Experience (17.22%)
  • Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) (4.49%)
  • Anatomy (7.15%)
  • Specimen Preparation (8.12%)
  • Laboratory Equipment (15.27%)
  • Laboratory Procedures (7.47%)
  • Chemistry (16.03%)
  • Workflow Management (8.34%)
  • Specimen Processing (11.75%)
  • Anatomical Pathology (16.95%)
  • Biopsies (9.37%)
  • Clinical Pathology (5.36%)
  • Biology (29.34%)
  • Cytology (13.75%)
  • Data Entry (10.18%)
  • Digital Pathology (2.65%)
  • Laboratory Information Management Systems (3.74%)
  • Life Sciences (1.95%)
  • Medical Terminology (12.18%)
  • Gynecology (4.44%)
  • Microtome (3.63%)
  • Standard Operating Procedure (7.36%)
  • Laboratory Testing (8.12%)
  • Phlebotomy (8.12%)
  • Toxicology (1.95%)
  • Specimen Accessioning (10.67%)

Alternative Job Titles

Sometimes employers post jobs with Pathology Laboratory Technician skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:

  • Pathology Technician
  • Pathology Assistant
  • Laboratory Technician
  • Pathology Laboratory Assistant
  • Laboratory Assistant
  • Anatomic Pathology Technician
  • Pathology Physician
  • Histology Technician
  • Locum Tenens

Similar Occupations

If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.

Common Employers

Here are the employers that have posted the most Pathology Laboratory Technician jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.

United States

  • CompHealth (176)
  • Actalent (56)
  • University of California (46)
  • Aya Healthcare (37)
  • Labcorp Drug Development (27)
  • University of Pennsylvania (21)
  • AMN Healthcare (20)
  • Trinity Health (20)
  • AdventHealth (18)
  • Cleveland Clinic (17)

North Carolina

  • CompHealth (9)
  • WakeMed (6)
  • Novant Health (4)
  • Butterball (3)
  • East Carolina University (3)
  • Wake Forest Baptist Health (3)
  • Progenco (2)
  • UNC Health (2)
  • First Health of the Carolinas (1)
  • Allegis Group (1)

NC State Programs Relevant to this Career

If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!