Now that the economy is recovering, salaries and hiring for life sciences professionals are on the upswing and further increases are likely this year, according to a recent report by BioSpace, a Denver-based life sciences recruitment source.
Salary increases among life sciences professionals in the last three years have exceeded the inflation rate by 35.5 percent even in a difficult economy, with life science salary increases averaging 8 percent.
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BioSpace analyzed its candidate pool data for the three years between 2010-2012, examining more than 200,000 life sciences professionals at every position level -- analysts, engineers, research associates, scientists, technician, coordinator, manager and directors.
“The increase in salaries for life sciences professionals demonstrates the growing demand for specialists in this area of expertise,” said Emily Chereck, BioSpace Product Manager. “Employers are having to be more competitive with salaries in order to attract top life sciences professionals.”
Education is important and will become more so in the future, although advanced degrees do not always translate to higher salaries, the report said. Students planning to enter the life sciences industry should obtain an associate’s or bachelor’s degree at a minimum.
According to the data, the top job titles for salary growth were Research Associate 1 and Scientist I, both increasing 15 percent from 2010 to 2012. Analyst and Scientist II followed.
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"We are not surprised to see so many professionals checking this industry for possible employment," Chereck said in a news release about the report.
The salary data of the life-sciences candidate pool likely has been influenced by contributing factors. For example, the total compensation for field engineers may include frequent travel, transportation and meal expenses that they report, thus driving up the average salary. Also, many professionals work part time while they pursue more advanced studies, thus driving down the average salary.
The pay freezes and cuts that many companies imposed during the worst of the recession may have residual effects on the salaries of life-science professionals. “While the economy is improving, it may take time for the salaries of professionals affected by these measures, those who entered the industry more than four years ago, to catch up with those hired after the worst was over,” the report said.
Nicole Smith, research professor and lead economist at the Center on Education and Workforce at Georgetown University, in Washington, D.C., agreed. Life sciences are categorized as a subset of the science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, jobs at CEW. “STEM is still one of the fastest growing occupational clusters in the country, second only to health care,” she said.
Indeed, a CEW report has projected over the next seven years to 2020 that the economy will create 55 million jobs, almost half new and half due to boomer retirements. “STEM will be 8 percent of those jobs. And life sciences is a subset of that,” Smith said.
Although demand will accelerate for life sciences professionals, Smith has some concern for some positions at the highest level of education attained, such as Ph.D. in microbiology and some others in the biological sciences. “There is some specific subcategory of life sciences where demand, even prior to the recession, had slowed compared to the number of workers available in those categories.”
Employers will be looking for professionals with sharp cognitive skills, such as active listening, ability to communicate well and critical thinking, the CEW report said.
“Some of the types of cognitive skills that are gained in life sciences while you’re studying at some educational institution are in demand throughout the economy,” Smith said. “This type of transferability of skills seems to be much more prevalent for the natural sciences than it is in any other type of educational group.”
The BioSpace report also noted that certain regions are a hotbed for employing a higher percentage these professionals at higher salaries, but also must pay a higher cost of living in these regions, including:
• Biotech Bay in Berkeley, Hayward, Mountain View, San Francisco, San Jose and Sunnyvale, Calif., accounted for nearly 40 percent of BioSpace employer job postings in 2012, and professionals had the highest average salary of $76,763.
• Genetown professionals in Cambridge, Mass., earned an average $72,792 salary.
• Pharm Country professionals in Philadelphia, Pa., and Princeton, N.J., averaged $70,193 salaries.
• Biotech Beach professionals in Irvine, Los Angeles and San Diego, Calif., earned an average $67,973.
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