Bioscience Jobs On The Upswing Despite Dismal Economy

Job growth in biosciences defies the unemployment statistics that the Labor Department doles out each month. Neither the recession nor the subsequent economic doldrums have impeded the growth of bioscience sector, a new report shows. Whiles the US economy continues to lose jobs in the private sector, bioscience continues to show job growth.

Various reports and information from known sources confirm that Biosciences added 96,000 jobs in the decade between 2001 and 2010 – an increase of 6.4 percent. During this time the US economy lost around 3.6 million private sector jobs, a decline of 3 percent.

Texas’ bioscience industry grew 19 percent, adding 78,000 jobs, between 2001 and 2010, a new report shows.

Given the continuing concerns about job creation in the U.S., we are pleased to report an increase of more than 96,000 jobs in the bioscience sector since 2001, even after accounting for the impacts of the recent severe recession,” said Jim Greenwood, President and CEO of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO).

“The bioscience industry is still resilient, even through these difficult economic times,” said Mitch Horowitz, Vice President and Managing Director of Battelle’s Technology Partnership Practice. “Looking to the future, the bioscience industry stands out amongst other markets and serves human health, agriculture, biofuels and other industrial applications.”

“Biotech holds great promise to help jump-start our nation’s economy and continue to add high-wage jobs,” noted Greenwood. “In order to help drive economic growth, and continue to help feed, fuel and heal the world, we need public policies that encourage investments in biotech innovation and a more transparent, science-based regulatory environment.”

According to the BIO report, employment in the Biosciences industry aggregated 1.6 million in 2010, straddling 70,000 business establishments. Candidates found jobs mainly in labs, makers of lab equipment and medical devices; biological drugs and diagnostic substances; fertilizers and biofuels; and product distributors.

Employment at laboratory companies, like Princeton, New Jersey-based contract researcher Covance Inc. (CVD) rose 24 percent in the period, according to a report. It climbed by 6.1 percent and was the only area of biosciences to progress during the recession period of 2007-2010. Laboratories employed more than 450,000 people in 2010. One-third of the bioscience industry workers found employment in the labs.

“This reflects the outsourcing of many research and testing services previously done in-house by major biopharmaceutical companies, as well as the rise of molecular diagnostic testing,” Battelle and BIO said in the report.

Seeing the increasing potential of laboratories Jeffrey Spaeder, a cardiologist moved from pharmaceutical companies to contract research labs.  “It is a very positive growth environment” that probably will continue, Spaeder said in a telephone interview. “I was very pleasantly surprised by the number of bright, experienced people at Quintiles, based in Durham, North Carolina,” which is the company Spaeder has joined.

“Pharma companies have been downsizing multiple parts of their organizations,” he said. “They are finding CROs are able to provide therapeutic area expertise and clinical development expertise that they previously had in house.”

“While not immune from the global recession, the bioscience industry has demonstrated that it is a generally strong and steady job generator, growing jobs over the past decade at a pace well above the national average,” Battelle and BIO said in the report.

“States and regions are targeting the bioscience sector because it is a source of high-wage, high-skill jobs,” said Mitchell Horowitz, Vice-President of Battelle’s Technology Partnership Practice. “But policymakers also realize that biosciences development is not simply about generating economic returns. The great promise of biosciences is its ability to address global problems, from human health to food generation and security to environmental sustainability and clean energy. Bioscience development pays huge social and quality of life dividends for the U.S. and the world.”