Bioscience Jobs Grew During Recession, Says Report

During the first year of the current U.S. recession, the bioscience industry continued to create jobs, according to a recent report from the Battelle Memorial Institute and the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO). While overall employment fell by 0.7 percent in 2008, U.S. bioscience employment grew 1.4 percent. Though the authors acknowledge that the full impact of the crisis was not felt until 2009 (for which employment data is not yet available), evidence indicates that biotech companies were not as negatively affected as other firms. In fact, several performance indices of publicly-traded biotech companies indicate that the industry has grown since October 2007, something no other sector in S&P 500 has done.

Between 2001 and 2008, bioscience employment grew 15.8 percent, 4.5 times more than the overall economy. Bioscience wages also are outpacing national private sector wage growth. Since 2001, real earnings in the bioscience industry have increased 10.1 percent, reaching $77,595 in 2008. Other private sector jobs grew only 3.2 percent during that period.

The report divides the bioscience industry into four subsectors: agricultural feedstock & chemicals, drugs & pharmaceuticals, medical devices & equipment, and research, testing & medical laboratories (RT&ML). Much of the growth between 2001 and 2008 was driven by the RT&ML sector, which experienced a 46.1 percent increase in employment. The sector added 176,000 jobs during that period and now accounts for 39 percent of bioscience employment. Between 2007 and 2008, RT&ML grew 2.1 percent, representing a significant slowdown from earlier growth. Agricultural feedstock and chemicals created the most jobs between 2007 and 2008, increasing employment by 4.6 percent, while drugs and pharmaceuticals jobs fell by 2.3 percent.

One distressing trend noted in the report is a decreasing amount of venture capital available for bioscience companies. As the economic crisis tightened capital markets, venture capital investment in bioscience companies fell by 36.7 percent. In 2009, investment fell below 2004 levels. Federal funding for extramural bioscience research also is becoming more scarce. Setting aside Recovery Act funding, funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) decreased 7.46 percent between 2008 and 2009. The report recommends increasing NIH funding for bioscience research to maintain funding levels after the recession.

The authors also warn that current trends in K-12 math and science education may lead to problems in the future. Though the number of post-secondary bioscience graduates grew 12.8 percent between 2006 and 2008, a study by Battelle and BIO last year indicates that future graduates may not have the STEM knowledge and skills needed by bioscience companies

In addition to data about the overall U.S. and state bioscience industries, the report highlights state initiatives intended to support bioscience companies and research. The full report and state-by-state profiles are available at: http://www.bio.org/local/battelle2010/