job trends forecast - massbioed · pdf file2 massbioed foundation 2016 biotechnology job...
TRANSCRIPT
The Digest of Biotech Job Trends
Massachusetts
2016
JOB TRENDS FORECAST
2
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
About the Digest
The Digest of Biotech Jobs Trends in Massachusetts consists of an on-going series of
publications that include Briefs, 3-Month Job Trends reports, and an Annual Jobs Trends
Forecast. The Briefs present basic data and analysis on particular aspects of biopharma
industry job trends. The initial 2015 Briefs are focused upon entry level position job trends
in the biopharmaceutical industry.
The objectives in publishing the Briefs is to provide basic information about job listings
trends, skills required of candidates, prevalence of degree requirements for high trending
occupations. The Briefs are intentionally limited in commentary. Instead, they are
intended to form a basis for additional study on job trends, skill requirements of candidates
seeking positions in the industry, and how training and higher education programs can
align with industry needs. The Annual Job Trends Forecast is intended to provide greater
insight based on additional study in these areas.
About the MassBioEd Foundation
MassBioEd engages teachers, inspires students, and guides the life sciences workforce. Our
BioTeach program supports Massachusetts teachers as they work to engage students
through lab-centered, inquiry-based learning. Our Job Trends initiative identifies
workforce needs and illuminates the pathway from the classroom to careers in the life
sciences.
Acknowledgements
The analysis found in the Forecast was conducted by Mark Bruso, Research Associate,
under the direction of MassBioEd Foundation Executive Director, Peter Abair. Erica
Dickinson, Product Support Manager at Burning Glass provided able assistance to the
MassBioEd research team in effectively using data from Burning Glass Technologies.
MassBio, the industry council serving the biopharmaceutical community of the
Massachusetts region, provided support for this series and MassBioEd’s on-going job
trends initiative.
For more MassBioEd job trends analysis, visit MassBioEd.org.
3
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
MassBioEd Foundation Board of Directors
Renee Connolly, Chair MilliporeSigma
Christopher Barr, Vice Chairman Biogen Stacie Sawchak Aerestad, Clerk Foley Hoag
Colleen DeSimone, Treasurer Syros Pharmaceuticals
Joan Abrams, Ph.D. Cambridge Rindge and Latin
Lauren Celano Propel Careers
William F. Ciambrone
Robert Coughlin MassBio
Debbie Durso-Bumpus Blueprint Medicines
Robert Gottlieb RMG Associates
John Hodgman Tufts University Gordon Institute
Christopher Murphy Sanofi Genzyme
Sridaran Natesan, Ph.D. Sanofi
David Reif, Ph.D. AstraZeneca
Steven Richter, Ph.D Avista Pharma Solutions
Alan Weiss, Ph.D Enzymatics, Inc.
Skills Advisory Group Members
Dave Anderson
EMD Serono
Aron Clarke
Shire
Gale Cohen
Bristol-Myers Squibb
Debbie Durso-Bumpus
Blueprint Medicines
Zaven Kaprielian
Amgen
Sarah Larson
Foundation Medicine
Ryan MacLean
GE Healthcare
Patrick Marshall
StratAcuity
Christopher Murphy
Sanofi Genzyme
Sanjeev Sant
Amgen
4
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
Introduction
The focus of this report is upon job trends in the biopharmaceutical industry in
Massachusetts. In addition, the Job Trends Forecast projects future job demand trends
through May of 2018.
At the close of 2015, the MassBioEd Foundation embarked on a job trends initiative for the
purpose of forecasting job trends, identifying gaps between job demand and workforce
supply, and identifying skills required for high trending jobs. Our ultimate goal is to
demystify the pathway for job seekers to jobs in the industry by using data, analysis, and
insight from industry and the education and training community. Thus far, our efforts have
been focused on better understanding entry level hiring and the skills required for such
positions. Our Briefs series includes detailed analysis of entry level hiring. In addition, we
publish a quarterly 3-Month Biotechnology Job Trends report, intended as a snapshot in
industry job demand.
Massachusetts has a long history in endeavoring to leverage its high skills, knowledge-
based economy into greater economic opportunities for its residents, while supporting
growth in STEM industries. In 2004, Massachusetts hosted the nation’s first statewide
STEM Summit (i.e. the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). In
2008, MassBio and the nascent Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, funded and published
Growing Talent: Meeting the Evolving Needs of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Industry. This
landmark report, prepared by the UMass Donahue Institute, provided important focus
upon the workforce needs of the life sciences in particular. Among its findings was a
projection of 11,000 jobs being added to the life sciences industry by 2014. In fact, in the
biopharmaceutical sub-industry alone, 14,342 jobs were added by 2014, a 31 percent
increase.
While a global economic downturn interceded since Growing Talent, the biopharmaceutical
industry continued its growth in Massachusetts. As it did, other important initiatives
around STEM education sustained focus upon the STEM workforce. In 2009, the
Massachusetts STEM Advisory Council was established, providing a continuing means of
assessing programming around STEM education and identifying best practices. In 2015,
Governor Baker established his Workforce Skills Cabinet, for the purpose of supporting a
high skills pipeline of workers through creative partnerships between employers,
educators, and the state workforce development system.
MassBioEd’s job trends initiative is ongoing and intended to meet a need identified over the
years by initiatives noted above and in MassBio’s Impact 2020 report, published in 2014.
As Impact 2020 reported:
5
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
“Both companies and universities point out that the lack of a reliable, ongoing
source of data on job demand in the life sciences industry creates challenges for
both parties around workforce training and planning.”
In the 2011 Jobs for the Future publication, Aligning Community Colleges to Their Local
Labor Markets, author David Altstadt also noted that educators are “hampered by a lack of
detailed, up-to-date information about occupations and skills in demand.” Also noted was
the opportunity presented by emerging real-time intelligence tools on job listings to
potentially provide reliable sources for information on job demand in the marketplace.
MassBioEd, through its job trends initiative, has utilized such new sources of hiring
intelligence, along with traditional government sources, and has committed to providing
regular reporting on job trends in the industry. MassBioEd produces Briefs on hiring
dynamics in the industry, convenes an industry-based Skills Advisory Group to advise
research on skills required for positions in the industry, and, to the best extent possible,
serves as a guide to the education and training communities, as well as job seekers, on
industry talent demands and skills required of high trending jobs.
This Job Trends Forecast joins MassBioEd’s other workforce-related publications as part of
its Digest of Biotech Job Trends, a compendium of MassBioEd workforce publications
compiled on an annual basis.
This Job Trends Forecast has the following finite objectives of providing:
new data based on a survey of industry employers of hiring issues,
latest job demand trends based on job listings,
review of Massachusetts higher education in graduating students with degrees in
biotechnology-related fields,
and forecasting industry job trends through May of 2018
6
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
2015 Massachusetts biopharmaceutical job listings jumped by 35%.
4,325 –forecasted
number of new jobs that the industry will need to fill by May of 2018.
87% of employers
report that they will increase employment in the next 12 months.
25% more students
received degrees in biotechnology-related programs from Massachusetts colleges and universities in 2014 than in 2010.
78% of employers
report more difficulty in hiring now than three years ago.
Executive Summary
The Massachusetts biopharmaceutical industry is in a prolonged period of expansion for
which we see no close through 2018. Actual
employment in the industry grew by 4,362 jobs
between 2011 and 2014, a 7.8 percent increase. In
2014 alone, the industry grew by a robust 4.9
percent.
In the period that forms the basis of this study, 2010-
2015, the number of job listings for the
Massachusetts industry increased dramatically. We
have found a strong correlation between job listings
and actual employment growth. Demand, as
measured by job listings, grew by 35 percent in
2015. In the first quarter of 2016, demand
increased, with the total number of job listings 38
percent higher than during the same period in 2015.
Using a conservative methodology, MassBioEd
forecasts that the industry will need to fill an
additional 4,325 jobs by May of 2018, a 6.7 percent
growth rate.
The Forecast also documents the demonstrable rise
in the number of graduates from Massachusetts
colleges and universities with biotechnology-related
degrees. This rise is at every degree level, but
especially pronounced at the Bachelor’s degree level.
Massachusetts public higher education saw a 57
percent rise in the number of Bachelor’s degrees
awarded from 2010 to 2015, though growth was less
robust at the graduate level and there was an actual
decline at the doctoral level. In private higher
education in Massachusetts, the number of degrees
awarded in biotechnology-related Bachelor’s and
graduate programs increased by 1,583 in 2015 over
2010 levels. Massachusetts community colleges
“over-performed” in the period from 2010-2014, producing more graduates each year than
there were jobs available at the associate level in the industry.
7
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
Despite the performance of higher education in Massachusetts, surveyed
biopharmaceutical companies still report pressures on hiring. As 87 percent of surveyed
biopharmaceutical employers indicated that they would be adding net new employees in
the next 12 months, 78 percent of employers indicated that it is more difficult to find
qualified talent than it was three years ago in 2013. Employers have greater difficulty
hiring at higher experience levels. Employers report particular difficulty in hiring in four
job areas: clinical research management, quality, regulatory, and process development.
Given the unprecedented growth of the industry in recent years, with dozens of notable
facility expansions, these pressures on hiring can best be seen as quantity versus quality
issues. By a better than two-to-one margin, employers who note a difference between
candidates of today versus three years ago report that the today’s candidates are better
prepared. The quantity of qualified candidates has risen in the period studied, but the
quantity of demand has in some job categories outstripped supply. With the strong
education and training infrastructure in Massachusetts, strategies can be developed to
meet employer needs for high demand positions using insight from this and other studies,
as well as continued dialogue between partners in higher education and industry.
8
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
Job Demand The Massachusetts biopharmaceutical industry is in a prolonged period of expansion for
which we see no close through 2018. The total number of industry job listings jumped by
35.5% in 2015 over 2014. New job listings by month in 2015 outpaced monthly new job
listings of 2014 in every month, without exception. This trend increased in the first quarter
of 2016, which showed the job listing growth rate increasing to 37%. January and March of
2016 had the most industry listings for Massachusetts of all months analyzed by
MassBioEd.
What do job listings tell us about actual hiring? By comparing the moving average of
biopharmaceutical industry job listing in Massachusetts to actual employment, we see a
strong correlation between the number of job listings and actual employment.
1373
1579 1546
1757
1397
1097
1324
1966 1891
1967
1800
1626
1904
1720
2186
2337
2004 2009
2205
2481
2140
2502 2434
2388
Massachusetts BioPharma Industry, New Job Postings, Month-by-Month Comparison, 2014 vs. 2015
2014 2015
9
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
Moving Average of Biopharma Job Listings and Employment
In our series of 3-Month Job Trends reports, MassBioEd provides listings data on the leading
occupations in the industry in terms of listings and growth by category on a study period
and the same period of the previous year. This table presents information on the leading
occupations by listings for the Q1 2016 period. The leading occupations remain very
consistent between periods, with the broad category of medical scientist always as the
leading occupation. Among these occupations are many that employers, as illustrated in a
later section, indicate are particularly difficult positions to fill, including scientist, clinical
research manager, process engineer, and quality positions.
Growth is found at every experience level
Growth is found at every degree level
Growth is found in every region
61,000
61,500
62,000
62,500
63,000
63,500
64,000
64,500
65,000
65,500
66,000
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
Tota
l # E
mp
lyed
in In
du
stry
# o
f Jo
b L
isti
ngs
Job Listings Industry Employment
37.8% 12-month
Growth in
Job Postings
10
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
Top Listings by Occupation, Q1 2016
In our Briefs series, we provide a great deal of research on job listing trends at various
degree and experience levels. Mostly, trends do not indicate strong movement in terms of
required experience or degree levels required for positions in the period of study since
2010. However, entry level positions have increased slightly to account for 26 percent of
all listed positions, up from 23 percent of all listings as we reported in 2015.
11
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
Top Companies by Job Listings
On this and the next page, the organizations with the most job listings in Q1 2016 are
presented. In the listings, we separate companies from non-profit organizations (e.g.
hospitals and universities).
The number of jobs that an organization will post will rise and fall according to that
organization’s business plan. A high number of listings in one quarter or year and a small
number of listings by the same organization in another quarter or year may reflect a
number of different factors, including that the organization met its hiring goals in keeping
with its business plan in one quarter and necessarily has fewer listings in a subsequent
quarter. A rise or fall in the number of job listings in one quarter should not be used as a
barometer of an organization’s health. We provide these listings for the more basic
purpose of showing which companies influenced talent supply and demand in hiring in one
particular quarter.
493
474
400
280
279
210
198
167
115
104
71
71
58
56
44
Sanofi Genzyme
Takeda Pharmaceuticals
Novartis
Pfizer
Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Amgen
Shire
Baxter International…
Medtronic
Merck & Company
Bristol-Myers Squibb
Biogen
Astrazeneca
Quest Diagnostics
AbbVie
Top Employers by Job Postings, Massachusetts Life Sciences
Companies, Q1 2015
1101
506
372
332
272
178
152
148
142
134
131
100
92
80
61
Sanofi Genzyme
Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Takeda Pharmaceuticals
Novartis
Pfizer
Charles River Laboratories
Medtronic
Merck & Company
Amgen
Quest Diagnostics
Biogen
Smith & Nephew
PerkinElmer
Bristol-Myers Squibb
AbbVie
Top Employers by Job Postings, Massachusetts Life Sciences
Companies, Q1 2016
12
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
Regional Breakdown
Massachusetts, like any complex economy, can be broken down into many different ways to
produce informed observations. We based these six geographic areas in Massachusetts on
those defined by the MassBio’s Economic Development Advisory Group as distinct sub-
markets of the Massachusetts life sciences supercluster.
100
82
58
57
47
Harvard University
Partners Healthcare
University OfMassachusetts…
Boston Children'sHospital
MassachusettsGeneral Hospital
Top Employers by Job Postings, Massachusetts Life
Sciences Non-Profits, Q1 2015
243
77
64
59
51
MassachusettsGeneral Hospital
Boston Children'sHospital
Dana FarberCancer Institute
HarvardUniversity
Boston University
Top Employers by Job Postings, Massachusetts Life
Sciences Non-Profits, Q1 2016
13
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
We calculated the First Quarter 2015 and 2016 job listings by these regions. The
Cambridge-Boston “Core” maintained its spot as the regional leader in job listings in both
Q1 2015 and Q1 2016. Approximately 56% of statewide industry job posts originated from
that locale.
The largest net change in job postings between the past two First Quarters occurred in the
128/Suburbs region, which experienced an approximate decrease of 40% between the two
time periods. In part, this reveals the effects of two major employers in the region at
different employment phases. Shire, which posted 186 job listings online in Q1 2015,
reached hiring goals and listed only a few jobs in Q1 2016. Biogen, which has been scaling
down its Weston footprint and growing at its Cambridge headquarters, also had a marked
decline in listings in this region during the same timeframe.
In contrast, the Worcester/I-495 region saw a sizeable increase in its share of job listings,
more than doubling the number of job listings between periods and increasing its share of
total postings to 16.5% in Q1 2016 from 9.5% in Q1 2015. Sanofi Genzyme led in the
region in total listings in the period, followed by Quest Diagnostics – newly located in
Marlborough.
Jobs Listings by Region, Q1 2015 v Q1 2016, and Share of all Listings
Region Q1 2015 Q1 2015 Share Q1 2016 Q1 2016 Share
Core 2,957 55.5% 3,747 56.0%
Northeast 458 8.6% 752 11.2%
128/Suburbs 1,191 22.3% 719 10.8%
Southeast 136 2.6% 273 4.1%
Worcester/I-495 504 9.5% 1,104 16.5%
Western Mass 84 1.6% 91 1.4%
Total 5,330 6,687
14
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
Leading Job Listing Companies by Region, Q1, 2016
Company Listings Company Listings
Medtronic 13 Sanofi Genzyme 469
Pfizer 8 Quest Diagnostics 96
Sanofi Genzyme 7 Bristol-Myers Squibb 67
Quintiles 4 AbbVie 48
Novartis 4 Charles River Laboratories 45
Takeda Pharmaceuticals 4 PerkinElmer 42
Quest Diagnostics 4 Danaher Corporation 32
Life Laboratories 3 UMass Medical School 31
Smith College 3 LabCorp 20
Kindred Healthcare, Inc. 3 Glaxosmithkline 19
Western Massachusetts Worcester/I-495
Company Listings Company Listings
Instrumentation Laboratory 53 Charles River Laboratories 121
PerkinElmer 40 Pfizer 89
Sanofi Genzyme 37 Smith & Nephew 54
Astrazeneca 32 Merck & Company 47
Ortho Clinical Diagnostics 32 Medtronic 46
Biogen 20 Parexel 24
Thermo Fisher 19 Raytheon 21
Tesaro, Inc 10 Bruker Company 17
Bristol-Myers Squibb 9 Amgen 14
Integra Lifesciences 9 Quest Diagnostics 13
128/Suburbs Northeast
Company Listings Company Listings
Medtronic 75 Sanofi Genzyme 583
Smith & Nephew 45 Vertex Pharmaceuticals 506
Cape Cod Healthcare 27 Takeda Pharmaceuticals 368
Merck & Company 18 Novartis 323
Pfizer 9 MGH 233
Quest Diagnostics 5 Pfizer 145
Southcoast Health System 5 Amgen 128
UMass Medical School 4 Biogen 111
Celldex Therapeutics 4 Merck & Company 80
Pioneer Data Systems 4 Boston Children's Hospital 77
SE/South Coast Cambridge/Boston Core
15
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
On this and the following pages, six charts detail the top ten most frequent job listings in
each of the six regions. These numbers are the totals for the entire industry in a given
region in the First Quarter of 2016. The Location Quotient details the concentration of
these positions relative to the statewide composition during the same timeframe – every
hundredth of a point above or below 1 is equal to a higher or lower concentration of
listings for an occupation of 1%. For example, medical scientists in the Core region in Q1
2016 (below) had an LQ of 1.2, signifying that during that period of time the region had a
20% higher concentration of medical scientist job listings than the state did as a whole.
Note: The larger the sample size, the better. For regions with a small number of listings,
location quotients lose meaning. As a result, we do not list the Western Mass. region
because of the low number of job posts during Q1 2016. While the number of listings is
also small in the SE/South Coast region, we do include that region in this section, as the
positions listed for the region correlate well to the types of companies located there and is
sufficiently indicative of the industry’s job market in the region.
Occupation – Cambridge/Boston Core Region Job Postings Location Quotient
Medical Scientist 450 1.20
Medical Director 286 1.50
Program Manager 212 1.34
Biologist 134 1.20
Sales Representative 107 1.04
Chemist 86 0.87
Software Developer / Engineer 86 0.83
Clinical Research Coordinator / Manager 84 1.26
Healthcare Administrator 70 1.46
Medical Laboratory Technician 68 0.80
Occupation – Northeast Region Job Postings Location Quotient
Medical Scientist 39 0.52
Chemist 37 1.87
Software Developer / Engineer 28 1.34
Industrial Engineer 20 2.55
Mechanical Engineer 18 1.73
Financial Analyst 16 2.76
Medical Laboratory Technician 14 0.80
Bookkeeper / Accounting Clerk 13 2.47
Program Manager 13 0.40
Financial Manager 13 1.52
16
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
Occupation – 128/Suburbs Region Job Postings Location Quotient
Medical Scientist 53 0.73
Software Developer / Engineer 49 2.47
Medical Director 23 0.62
Biologist 23 1.06
Office / Administrative Assistant 22 1.81
Computer Programmer 19 2.72
Program Manager 15 0.50
Medical Laboratory Technician 14 0.86
Mechanical Engineer 14 1.40
Chemist 13 0.70
Occupation – Southeast Region Job Postings Location Quotient
Regulatory Affairs Specialist 17 7.71
Sales Representative 14 1.87
Industrial Engineer 14 4.86
Software QA Engineer / Tester 8 5.42
Technical Writer 6 3.30
Manufacturing Engineer 6 4.07
Nursing Assistant 6 3.46
Compliance Manager 5 1.45
Office / Administrative Assistant 5 1.06
Bookkeeper / Accounting Clerk 5 2.51
Occupation – Worc./I- 495 Region Job Postings Location Quotient
Medical Scientist 122 1.10
Medical Laboratory Technician 52 2.08
Chemical / Process Engineer 45 2.78
Program Manager 40 0.87
Chemist 39 1.33
Biologist 38 1.16
Quality Control Analyst 24 1.95
Customer Service Representative 23 3.12
Medical Director 23 0.41
Sales Representative 22 0.73
17
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
Forecasting Job Demand
As part of our job trends initiative, we are committed to introduce effective forecasting of
job trends as a means of aiding planning around workforce development efforts. The
biopharmaceutical industry, like other industries, is subject to evolving workforce needs.
The Massachusetts biopharma industry of 2016 is very different than that of 1996 or 2006.
MassBioEd took a very conservative path in developing a methodology to forecast future
job demand. We began by limiting the scope of the forecast to just two years into the
future. As we gain confidence in our methodology, we will consider expanding the horizon
of the forecast.
In order to forecast occupational needs, MassBioEd needed to first estimate the industry
employment in May 2018, subsequently working down from there. We split up all seven
sectors of the BioPharma industry on their own, each with a model that analyzed native
trends and factors unique to each individual industry to come up with projected increases
between May 2015 (latest available data with staffing patterns) and May 2018. The result
was the following graphic, which illustrates the employment totals in May of 2018 of three
groups (Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, Biotechnology Research and Development, and the
ancillary sectors of our industry). For more information, please reference the projections
methodology, presented in the Appendix.
18
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
The Pharmaceutical Manufacturing sector is forecasted to grow by 11.4%, or add a net of
1,234 jobs between May 2015 and May 2018. This means that the sector would expand at a
rate of 3.7% per year for the three-year period, the fastest of the three sectors in the
graphic and second only to Medical Testing Laboratories (4.1% per year) in the industry.
The largest sector by employment in Massachusetts, Research and Development in
Biotechnology, is expected to grow at a slower pace, clocking in at 1.8% compound annual
growth rate, expanding by approximately 2,000 new net jobs by May 2018.
The agglomeration of the remaining five sectors shows, on average, a 2.2% annual growth
rate, or a shade fewer than 6% for the three-year period. Of those five sectors, industry
growth within the Hospitals NAICS
code is the slowest, at only 1.5% over
three years.
This amounts to an annual compound
growth rate in the industry of 2.2%.
As mentioned in the methodology in
the appendix, these projections are
conservative in nature and do not include any severe outside shocks to the economy that
may occur during the same time frame. The models examined industry data from 2011-
2015, and, if those conditions prevail moving forward, the employment totals will in all
likelihood overshoot our projections. Note that this is a measure of increase in
employment, not the number of openings.
The table on the following page is the result of predicting each occupation’s share of each
industry, multiplied by the projected industry size in 2018, compared against the May 2015
totals (see Appendix). The table is sorted by the total net change of occupations within the
industry between 2015 and 2018. Medical Scientists, the largest occupation by
employment in the industry, is also top in projected net gain. Sales Representatives, #3 by
total gain, is first among large occupations in projected growth, with 38%. The top of this
list is dominated by occupations from the life science and engineering occupational
families, with the exceptions being Sales Reps, General and Operations Managers, and
Software Developers. Most in the table exhibit projected growth rates far exceeding the
industry-wide 6.7% for the three-year period.
Not pictured are the occupations with the largest projected decline: Phlebotomists
Machinists, Life Scientists (All Other), and Medical Assistants are all expected to shed jobs
between now and 2018.
The total increase in employment by May 2018 is forecast to be
4,325, a 6.7% increase.
19
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
Top 15 Occupations by Projected Increase, 2015-2018
Higher Education and the Challenge of Supply
The Massachusetts industry seeks candidates at a higher experience and degree level than
most other leading biopharma states. While the Massachusetts biopharmaceutical industry
has a strong manufacturing component and includes many companies with integrated
operations that include both research and manufacturing, the industry has a pronounced
presence in research. Because of the particular size of the sector (Middlesex County, for
example, has greatest number and concentration of biotechnology researchers in the
nation), degree requirements of the industry in Massachusetts are higher than most other
clusters in the nation. The prevalent type of biopharmaceutical manufacturing in
Massachusetts, the more complex biologics manufacturing, also manifests in the higher
degree requirements found in the state.
20
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
21
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
Massachusetts higher education has largely risen to the challenge of graduating more
students in biotechnology-related degree programs. The number of biotechnology-related
higher education graduates has increased in the most recent 5-year period. Massachusetts
public higher
education has
seen a rise in
biotechnology-
related
graduations at
every degree
level except the
PhD level,
which declined.
Massachusetts
public higher
education
outperformed
national public
higher
education in
terms of
increases in
biotechnology-
related graduates at the Bachelor’s level. Public higher
education graduations from biotechnology-related programs increased by 501, to 1,380
graduates, between 2010 and 2015, an increase of 56 percent.
The following graphs present graduation trends at the various degree levels. Also
presented on the accompanying charts, are the actual graduation numbers, as well as the
public higher education graduate share of all Massachusetts graduates.
With the dramatic increase of graduates at the Bachelor’s level, Massachusetts public
higher education’s share of all graduates grew to 28.3 percent in 2015, from 24.5 percent in
2010. At the graduate and doctorate levels, private institutions grew share of graduations.
22
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
Bachelor’s Degree Level
YEAR Public
Share
Private
Grads
Public
Grads
2015 28.3% 3,495 1,380
2014 26.6% 3,628 1,318
2013 26.4% 3,351 1,203
2012 25.0% 3,225 1,073
2011 25.5% 2,709 929
2010 24.5% 2,705 879
Graduate Degree Level
Associate Degree Level
It is important to note the performance of students at the community college level. The
number of graduates from biotechnology programs at Massachusetts community colleges
rose from 211 in 2010 to 261 in 2014, the last year for which we have data. This 23 percent
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Annual Biotech-Related Graduates vs. Biotech Graduate Degree Min. Listings,
Massachusetts, 2010 - 2015
Private Univ. Graduates Public Univ. Graduates
Listings
YEAR Public Share
Private Grads
Public Grads
2015 9.1% 2,451 244
2014 10.0% 2,373 264
2013 9.6% 2,353 251
2012 11.0% 2,120 261
2011 12.4% 1,733 246
2010 12.4% 1,658 235
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Annual Biotech-Related Graduates vs. Biotech Listings, Massachusetts, 2010 -
2015
Public Univ. Graduates Private Univ. Graduates
Listings
23
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
increase coincides with a determined effort by community colleges and their partners to
better align programming at many community colleges with the needs of the life sciences
industry. MassBioEd and MassBio were involved in one of those initiatives, the
Massachusetts Life Sciences Education Consortium (MLSEC). The MLSEC worked with
community colleges to bring industry to the table to review community college
biotechnology programs and determine desired competencies in biotechnology for
associate graduates from such programs. The MLSEC also awarded endorsements to
community colleges for meeting competency standards co-developed by the institutions
and industry.
Many community colleges have established strong industry advisory groups to continue to
guide program development. There are ongoing federally funded initiatives in which
Massachusetts community colleges are focused on improving programmatic alignment with
industry needs (one of which MassBioEd is involved in as a facilitator). Our research
suggest that Massachusetts community colleges “over-performed” in the period from 2010-
2014, producing more graduates in each year than there were jobs available at the
associate level in the industry. This finding is highly qualified, however. While many
associate degree-holders do aim at entering the workforce, many others use their
community college education as a stepping stone toward a four-year degree. Given the
technical-focus of community college programs, these students should have an advantage
over their fellow four-year degree program counterparts in the area of technical lab skills.
Associate Degree Graduates and Entry Level Listings
24
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
Several companies have made a concerted effort to hire associate degree level candidates
for positions. For example, both Shire and Sanofi Genzyme have expressed very
satisfactory results with such hiring, especially for production-related positions. While the
question of “over-listing positions” (listing for a Bachelor’s requirement when the job could
be filled by a qualified associate degree holder), won’t be answered here, MassBioEd’s
Skills Advisory Group discussed at length the Associate versus Bachelor’s candidate. Given
the high number of 4-year degree graduates in Massachusetts and as evidenced by the
dramatic increase of Bachelor’s graduates from biotechnology-related programs,
employers feel a greater degree of security in listing positions with a Bachelor’s
requirement. Community college graduates, based on the competencies in place for
biotechnology programs, possess strong technical skills. However, even in cases where
such technical skills are required, an employer may opt for a Bachelor’s degree holder,
because it is assumed that the Bachelor’s candidate will have a greater understanding of
underlying science and can become more proficient in technical lab skills once on the job.
That being said, it is important to note that job listings with associate degree requirements
will rise along with overall increases in job listings. There are jobs in the industry for
associate degree holders, as well as those with only high school diplomas. However, while
these positions will persist, community colleges may better serve biotechnology graduates
continuing their education by connecting them to articulation agreements with four-year
colleges.
In this regard, well-structured and promoted articulation agreements in biotechnology
between community colleges and four-year colleges are essential if community college
graduates are to maximize the benefits of their associate degree education in biotech.
Industry Perceptions of the Hiring Marketplace MassBioEd developed industry insight for this report by means of a company survey in
April and May of 2016. This survey was built upon earlier polling of industry members at a
MassBio Forum in early-April 2016 at which 20 companies were represented. Forty-eight
companies, representing employment of approximately 9,325 workers in Massachusetts,
provided responses to the survey.
The respondent companies represented the spectrum of company sizes and types featured
in the Massachusetts cluster.
25
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
Respondents: Company Types
Every responding company indicated that it had increased employment in the past 12 months. Thirty percent of companies indicated that they had added 51 or more employees in the prior 12 months.
87% of companies reported that they planned to increase net employment in Massachusetts in the next 12 months. 78% of companies reported that it is either more difficult or much more difficult to find qualified talent than it was three years ago (2013).
93% reported that it was more difficult to hire for Experienced positions (requiring 3 or more years of experience) than for Entry Level positions (2 years or less experience).
Number of weeks it takes to make a new hire from the time the job is listed
28.9%
6.7%
31.1%
13.3%
4.4%
15.6%Office-only biopharma company
Research-focused
Manufacturing-focused
Integrated - Research and Manufacturing-focused
Contract Research
Contract Manufacturing
8.7%
39.1%
39.1%
13.0%
6-9 weeks
10-12 weeks
More than 12 weeks
1-5 weeks
26
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
Entry Level Hiring In its 2015 Briefs series on entry level positions, MassBioEd developed a considerable amount of analysis on the dynamics of hiring at the entry level, those positions requiring two years or less of experience. Entry level job listings represented 26 percent of all listings in Q1 2016. Having developed the Briefs series on such positions from the demand perspective, our survey was constructed to extract more information from company respondents on perceived supply issues.
91.3% of responding companies reported that “soft skills” (teamwork, communications, decision-making, etc.) were VERY IMPORTANT in considering new hires (at all experience levels).
73% of companies reported that for science-based jobs, knowledge of the underlying science and critical thinking skills were more important than technical skills in the lab or in manufacturing.
48% of respondents said that at the time of hiring entry level candidates for science-based positions the employer doesn’t know enough about their lab skills until they are on the job. Another 9% reported that candidates are typically unable to demonstrate sufficient technical skills.
What is the greatest issue in hiring at the Entry Level?
27.3%
27.3%
38.6%
6.8%
Lack sufficient technical skills
Lack soft skills
Meet our requirements but are difficult tohire due to competition from other
employers
No issues finding qualified candidates
27
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
A high percentage of companies, especially research-based companies, provide little-to-no
training to incoming science-based employees. While 46 percent of companies provide
training for all new science-focused hires, 18 percent provide training to only some new
hires and 36 percent provide no training at all. A very high percentage of those companies
that provide no training are research-based companies. The companies most likely to
provide training for all new hires for science-based positions are those companies that are
manufacturing-focused.
Difficult-to-Fill Positions
Company respondents were asked to provide insight on position categories particularly
difficult to fill. Given the large number of research positions in the Massachusetts industry,
it is the most commonly cited difficult-to-fill job category. For all respondents, two other
job categories were noted as highly difficult – process development and regulatory affairs
positions. When considering only responses from manufacturing and integrated
companies (those with both research and manufacturing operations in Massachusetts),
quality area positions became the second most difficult-to-fill positions noted, behind only
process development and ahead of regulatory positions.
Survey Respondents on the Competition for Talent
“We are a small bio tech company and can't compete with big pharma companies when it comes to compensation.”
“We are all fighting for the same talent!”
“We are growing but can't match the global companies on benefits.”
28
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
Most Difficult Positions to Fill, All Respondents
Most Difficult to Fill Positions, Manufacturers and Integrated Companies
Occupation(s) 2012 Pop.
2015 Pop.
Actual Growth, 2012-15
Proj. Growth, 2015-18
2018 Proj.
Clinical Research Coordinator/Managers
1,382 1,500 8.6% 7.8% 1,618
Medical Scientists 8,160 9,210 12.9% 8.9% 10,030
Compliance Officer/ Regulatory Affairs 644 1,055 63.7% 6.7% 1,125
Chemists 1,628 1,235 -24.1% 16.8% 1,443
Quality Control Analyst/ Quality Inspector/Quality Systems Managers
1,375 1,779 29.4% 7.3% 1,908
29
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
The above table details the hard-to-fill occupations, as voted on by our industry survey
respondents. The table lays out the May 2012, May 2015, and projected May 2018
employment totals for either a single occupations, or a group of similar occupations. To the
far left is a column detailing the observed growth over the three-year period between 2012
and 2015, in addition to the projected growth rate in the three years following 2015.
Massachusetts Is Not Alone
Massachusetts is not an island in facing hiring challenges in the industry. Other life
sciences clusters are facing spiraling demand as represented by increased job listings.
State YoY
Growth Yearly
GQ Q1
Growth Q1 GQ
2015 Openings
California 37.6% 0.91 47.8% 0.79 21,673
Maryland 58.3% 1.42 128.2% 2.14 5,481
Massachusetts 45.0% 1.09 56.1% 0.93 13,191
New Jersey 74.3% 1.80 82.6% 1.37 11,771
New York 46.9% 1.14 36.2% 0.60 7,091
North Carolina 37.2% 0.90 101.1% 1.67 4,861
Pennsylvania 48.5% 1.18 111.6% 1.85 6,638
USA - TOTAL 41.2% 1.00 60.4% 1.00 158,470
The above table discloses the rates of growth in both Q1 2015 and Q1 2016, as well as the
entire years of 2015 and 2014 in seven biotech clusters. In comparing 2015 to 2014, the
average rate of growth, as measured by online job listings, increased by 41.2%. Amongst
our sample, Massachusetts grew at the fifth-highest rate out of the seven states we
measured, albeit at a faster rate than the industry at the national level, resulting in a
growth quotient of 1.09 – i.e. listings in Massachusetts’ biopharma industry grew at a 9%
faster clip than the industry did as a whole in the country when comparing 2015 to 2014.
Of the states in our sample, New Jersey witnessed the largest increase in listings, growing
at 74% year-over-year, and besting the national industry average by 80%. This sample of
seven states accounted for about 47% of the national job listings in 2015.
Focusing on comparing Q1 2016 to Q1 2015, Massachusetts’ rate of increase over those
two periods of time was 56%, yet it was actually 7% slower than the rate at which the
industry grew at the national level over the same timeframe. As it is a smaller period of
time, these numbers are subject to larger swings.
30
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
Next, we break out the biopharma industry into distinct sub-sectors amongst our seven-
state sample to see which sectors within Massachusetts and the six other states grew – or,
declined – in job listings between 2014 and 2015. Below is an explainer on the sub-sectors
used in this analysis.
The following three graphs break out our biotech hub comparisons into three distinct
industry sub-sections – 3254, or Pharmaceutical Manufacturers; 5417, or Research and
Development in Biotechnology; and “Ancillary Industries,” comprised of the following NAICS
Codes (3345, 5413, 6113, 622, and 6215). For the sake of an apples-to-apples comparison,
we applied Burning Glass Labor Insight’s four “biotech” skills filters that sift through the
entirety of the online listings to identify what could be considered a biotech opening in
each sector.
The vertical axis describes the particular sector’s share of job listings within the state’s
biotech industry. The horizontal axis shows the year-over-year growth in job listings in
each state’s particular sub-sector. Finally, the diameter of the dot is in relation to the sheer
size of employment within that sub-sector (for the Ancillary Industries category, which
encompasses a much smaller share of 5 industries, the number of job postings was used as
a stand-in for circle size – apples-to-apples comparisons between states in this category
were unavailable at the time of publication).
33%
12%
33%
115%
34% 39%
29% 25%
69%
46%
64%
34%
57% 55% 58%
79%
49%
78% 81%
2%
54%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
Year-Over-Year Industry Sector Growth by State, 2014-2015
Ancillary Industries Biotech R&D Pharmaceutical Manufacturing
31
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
Among the seven states, only Maryland had a smaller monthly employee population
average within the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing sector than Massachusetts did in the first
three quarters of 2015, yet the sector accounted for nearly 45% of all industry job listings
in Massachusetts during that time. California had the most employees, at 47,864;
Massachusetts had 10,724. North Carolina had by far the slowest growth in the sample,
only a 2% increase in job postings, compared with a 37% increase in the entire industry
over the same timeframe.
California
Maryland
Massachusetts
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
Pennsylvania
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%Se
cto
r S
ha
re o
f S
tate
's B
iote
ch L
isti
ng
s
Percentage Growth in Job Listings, 2014 to 2015
Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Comparisons
California
Maryland
Massachusetts New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
Pennsylvania
15%
25%
35%
45%
55%
65%
75%
85%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%Se
cto
r S
ha
re o
f S
tate
's B
iote
ch L
isti
ng
s
Percentage Growth in Job Listings, 2014 to 2015
Biotech R&D Comparisons
32
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
Massachusetts had the largest Research and Development in Biotechnology sector by
employee count in 2015, besting California by 2,000 workers. While similarly-sized,
Massachusetts experienced much larger growth in listings than California did in the years
of 2014 and 2015. While much larger than the five other states, Massachusetts lagged
behind in growth rate (46%). While three times larger than Pharmaceutical Manufacturing
in terms of employment, R&D in Biotech in Massachusetts actually made up a smaller
fraction of total job listings.
Much smaller in terms of employment and job listings, the amalgamated Ancillary
Industries is made up of biotech-related jobs in five separate industries encompassing
higher education, healthcare, testing laboratories, and laboratory research instrumentation
manufacturing. With the exception of New Jersey, with a year-over-year growth rate of
nearly 120%, the six other states are bunched together in terms of growth. Although home
to many of the top hospitals and universities in terms of federal funding, Massachusetts
lags behind most of the states in terms of job listings as a share of the state’s whole
biopharma industry.
What to Look For In Future MassBioEd Reports
MassBioEd will continue to produce various reports as part of its regular Briefs series.
Having concentrated on entry level positions with its initial Briefs, MassBioEd will expand
its focus more deeply into higher experience level issues. We will continue to produce 3-
Month Job Trend Reports, intended as quick-check, snap-shots of job trends in the industry.
California
Maryland Massachusetts
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
Pennsylvania
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120%
Se
cto
r S
ha
re o
f S
tate
's B
iote
ch L
isti
ng
s
Percentage Growth In Job Openings, 2014 to 2015
Ancillary Industries Comparisons
33
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
In 2016, MassBioEd will also be working to develop an on-line career pathways guide, with
the intention of clarifying pathways’ to careers in the industry, using historic and real-time
data on skill requirements, degree requirements, job demand, job salaries, and job demand
forecasting for positions in the industry.
MassBioEd engages teachers, inspires students, and guides the life sciences workforce. We
invite the reader to learn more about our BioTeach program, which supports
Massachusetts teachers as they work to engage students through lab-centered, inquiry-
based learning. BioTeach provides training for 150 public high school teachers, impacting
thousands of public high schools students annually. BioTeach’s experiential learning
opportunities introduce over 600 public school science students annually to careers in the
life sciences. Through BioTeach, MassBioEd also provides grants for lab supplies and
equipment for in-need schools, as well as extensive mentoring for teachers. BioTeach is
largely dependent on funds raised from corporate philanthropy and individual donors.
Learn more at www.massbioed.org.
34
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
Appendix Data Sources:
• Burning Glass Labor Insight (2010 – 2014 Graduation Data, Job Listings Data) • MA Dept. of Labor and Workforce Development’s Employment and Wages by
Industry and Area (Industry Sector Employment Data) • Univ. of Massachusetts’ President’s Office, Neena Verma (2015 Graduation data via
IPEDS Data Center) • Annual Industry Survey, SurveyMonkey • BLS’ QCEW Data Files (Employment Data) • BLS’ OES Research Estimates by State and Industry (Staffing Composition of Industry
Sectors) • iShares by BlackRock (Biotech Stock Data) • Evaluate Pharma (BioPharma R&D Spending Data)
• PwC MoneyTree (Venture Capital Funding Data) Industry Projection Methodology
MassBioEd conducted its first forecast of industry growth in May 2016. With a base month
and year of May 2015 (latest available employment data with staffing patterns), we were
able to project out three years hence, both industry size and individual occupations.
The first step was to estimate the size of the industry in May 2018. Each individual sector
(3254, 54171, 54138, 3345, 622, 61131, and 6215) was broken out into the highest-digit
NAICS code with available OES industry staffing patterns for May 2015, in order to isolate
historical trends and contributing factors unique to each sector. A multiple weighted
regression was run for each sector, all with auto-regressive terms of the monthly,
seasonally-adjusted employment numbers. The weights emphasized the importance of
more recent data points in the model (.01 x (.99) ^# of months prior to September 2015).
For Pharmaceutical Manufacturers (NAICS 3254), additional independent variables such as
the Biotech Stock Market Index level of the previous 6 month period (sourced from
iShares), a centered moving 12-month average of Venture Capital funding in the
Massachusetts Biotech industry (sourced from PwC’s MoneyTree tool), and a 3-month
average of industry job listings were found to be statistically significant contributors, with
p-values of .01, 5.7x10-12, and .02, respectively (any variable with a p-value below .05 was
included). All independent variables were then auto-regressed out to May 2018 at the
lower 95th of their predicted value (two times the standard error below the predicted
value), ensuring a conservative estimate moving forward. The resulting Adjusted R-
Squared, a measure of the total amount of variance of the dependent variable explained by
the independent variables in the equation, was .99.
35
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
For Biotechnology R&D (NAICS 54171), additional independent variables such as the
Biotech Stock Market Index level of the previous 6 month period (sourced from iShares),
and the monthly average of BioPharma R&D spending in billions (sourced from Evaluate
Pharma) were to found to be statistically significant contributors, with p-values of 6.47x10-
5, and .01. Following the same methodology as described above, the resulting Adjusted R-
Squared value was also .99.
The other five sectors were forecasted using strictly a weighted autoregressive equation,
which is essentially a “business-as-usual” approach. The Adjusted R-Squared values all
approached .99. The resulting estimates of industry populations were completed by
applying seasonality to the trend. All industries were then summed to complete the total
industry growth projections.
In order to predict individual occupational projections, we first looked at historical staffing
patterns within each sector – i.e. the share of each sector that individual occupational
families had from May 2012 through May 2015. Occupational families are groups of like-
occupations sourced from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Standard Occupational Code
system. Next, in order to predict industrial occupational composition in May 2018, we
weighted the average share of each occupational family within each sector of the previous
four years (50% of the 2015 average, 25% of 2014’s, 15% of 2013’s, and 10% of 2012’s) to
derive the estimate for the 2018 staffing patterns within each sector. Next, we applied the
percentage change of each occupational family’s sector share to each occupation within
each occupational family, which resulted in a 2018 share for each occupation in each of the
seven sectors of the industry, applied to the aforementioned May 2018 total sector
employment projections. They were then summed together and compared against the May
2015 totals to come up with projected growth or decline for all occupations over the course
of the three years.
36
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
Occupational Projections
Top 30 Occupations – May 2015 2015 2018 Net
Change Growth
Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists 9,411 10,030 619 6.6%
Biological Technicians 5,850 6,012 162 2.8%
Biochemists and Biophysicists 3,095 3,502 408 13.2%
General and Operations Managers 1,597 1,747 151 9.4%
Biomedical Engineers 1,542 1,667 125 8.1%
Clinical Research Coordinators, All Other 1,484 1,618 134 9.0%
Chemists 1,235 1,443 208 16.8%
Electronics Engineers, Except Computer 1,195 1,197 2 0.2%
Compliance Officers 1,055 1,125 70 6.6%
Microbiologists 1,014 1,158 144 14.2%
Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants
959 1,033 74 7.7%
Mechanical Engineers 936 977 41 4.4%
Phlebotomists 867 782 -85 -9.8%
Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive
827 888 62 7.5%
Customer Service Representatives 783 855 72 9.2%
Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
770 801 31 4.0%
First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers
767 773 6 0.8%
Industrial Engineers 732 852 120 16.3%
Life, Physical, and Social Science Technicians, All Other 712 711 -1 -0.1%
Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technicians 685 809 124 18.1%
Financial Managers 670 738 68 10.1%
Software Developers, Systems Software 658 754 96 14.5%
Marketing Managers 625 681 56 8.9%
Biological Scientists, All Other 619 760 141 22.8%
Industrial Production Managers 616 732 116 18.9%
Chemical Technicians 615 702 86 14.1%
Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks 614 665 51 8.3%
Statisticians 597 683 86 14.4%
Life Scientists, All Other 590 580 -10 -1.7%
Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products
589 814 224 38.1%
37
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
38
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast
39
MassBioEd Foundation 2016 Biotechnology Job Trends Forecast