Top 10 Life Sciences Jobs Most in Demand over the Next Decade
On April 20, 2021, Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News reported, Covid-19 may have wreaked havoc on the U.S. economy last year, but it did not derail biotech employment. If anything, the pandemic is expected to stoke increasing numbers of jobs during this decade.
In assessing the impact of COVID-19 on the life sciences late last year, the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm CBRE Group cited U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures in its U.S. Life Sciences Report 2020 to show that the nation’s life sciences workforce dipped in June 2020 to 1.8 million jobs, just 1.3% below its March 2020 peak, and still 1% higher than a year earlier.
Moody’s economy.com projected that employment in scientific R&D services will grow three times as fast as overall employment growth over the next five years—0.9% on average vs. 0.3% on average. By contrast, in the decade before COVID-19, scientific R&D employment grew 1.7% annually, compared with 1.4% annually for total nonfarm employment.
While Boston/Cambridge, MA and the San Francisco Bay Area retained their first and second positions on GEN’s most recent A-List of Top 10 U.S. Biopharma Clusters, published March 10, neither lead the nation in total life sciences jobs (Los Angeles/Orange County, CA, ranks first, followed by New York/New Jersey). According to a March report from commercial real estate firm JLL, the nation’s fastest-growing areas for life-sci employment are Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue (3.1% higher growth in 2015–2020 vs. 2010–2015), followed by Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta (3.0%).
“We all have personal losses to mourn, but we also have reason to be optimistic. The biotech industry is well-positioned for 2021, and I believe that it will land on its feet after all the upheaval. The same is true for hiring!” Meghan Williams-Pacini, Life Sciences Recruitment Specialist with the recruitment services provider GQR, wrote March 5 on the company’s blog focused on COVID-19 and life-sci jobs.
“Job seekers will find that many things are different, but the fundamentals are the same,” Williams-Pacini observed. “Hiring managers are still looking for a person who brings technical expertise and a strong cultural fit. More than ever, there is a large emphasis across the industry on effective communication, teamwork, collaboration, flexibility, and adaptability.”
Below is a list of 10 research and clinical biotech occupations projected to add jobs through 2029, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook updated last September, ranked in order of the number of expected additional jobs to be created between 2019 and 2029, projected as of April 9. Each occupation also lists the number of jobs in 2019 as counted by BLS, the percentage increase between 2019 and 2029, the median pay per year in 2020, and a description of the position.
For seven of the 10 occupations highlighted in the Handbook, BLS projected smaller increases in jobs from 2019 to 2029 than it did between 2018 and 2028, the 10-year period BLS examined in the previous edition of its Handbook, the basis for GEN’s 2019 A-List of top-10 biotech jobs most in demand. GEN published its first A-List of top-10 jobs in 2014, and published updated A-Lists in 2016 and in 2018. Two occupations showed increases in the 10-year job projections, while one showed the same projected employment change as in 2018–28.
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