MassBioEd, MassBio’s education affiliate whose mission is to build a sustainable life sciences workforce in the region through educational programs that inspire and propel students, engage and excite teachers, and illuminate the pathway from classroom to careers, just released its Q2 Quarterly Life Sciences Job Market Report. The verdict? After a relatively slow start to hiring at the beginning of 2018, the second quarter saw a dramatic increase in job listings. Key findings include:
- After two consecutive quarters in which job listings decreased versus past quarters, Q2 2018 saw a dramatic 30% increase in job listings over Q1 2018, rising to 7,050 job listings in Q2 versus just 5,406 in Q1.
- May 2018 saw the highest number of job listings since March of 2016.
- In an interesting development, several emerging companies joined the list of Top 25 Employers by STEM Job Listings in the first six months of 2018, including Moderna Therapeutics, bluebird bio, and SAGE Therapeutics.
We often hear from our members that hiring qualified candidates has been the greatest challenge of 2018 – and this report certainly supports that. Competition is fierce among biopharma companies, with each working to attract and retain talent to solve the toughest unmet medical needs. Companies are looking to the top colleges and universities in Massachusetts to meet their hiring needs, along with expanding their search across the country and even the globe.
MassBioEd is working hard to deliver the industry the next generation of workers, getting high school and college students excited about career opportunities in the life sciences. The organization is also arming HR and hiring managers with salary information to ensure they’re offering competitive wages. These efforts are critical to ensuring Massachusetts remains the #1 life sciences cluster in the world, and that we can meet the industry’s hiring needs so our members and the industry at large can continue to focus on delivering new breakthrough therapies and cures to patients.
Download the Quarterly report here: https://www.massbioed.org/job_trends
Purchase and download the BioWages Guide here: https://www.massbioed.org/events/395-massachusetts-biowages-guide