Roche Diagnostics, a biotechnology company in Indianapolis, recently announced a $300 million capital expansion over 10 years with 100 new jobs over the next five years.
Another Indianapolis biotechnology company, Dow AgroSciences, announced a $340 million expansion with 500 new jobs coming.
Both of these companies have played a part in Indiana’s (and the country's) massive growth of bioscience jobs since 2001. Indiana's bioscience job growth increased by 14 percent – outpacing the industry's national average of 6.4 percent, according to the Battelle/Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) report, "State Bioscience Industry Development 2012," released last week at the BIO International Conference in Boston.
The fifth biennial report analyzed the industry’s impact on the economy, which includes a state-by-state analysis of the industry. The study revealed that during the 2001 to 2010 period, the U.S. bioscience industry added jobs, despite losses in both the overall U.S. total private sector industry employment and other leading knowledge-based industries. In fact, while the bioscience industry grew by 6.4 percent and added more than 96,000 jobs, total employment for all other private sector industries fell by 2.9 percent, losing more than 3 million jobs.
Thirty-four states and Puerto Rico have an employment specialization (20 percent or more concentrated than the nation) in at least one of the five bioscience subsectors (drugs and pharmaceuticals, medical devices and equipment, research, testing and medical laboratories, agricultural feedstock and chemicals, and bioscience-related distribution).
Indiana is one of only two states (along with Puerto Rico) that have specialized bioscience employment in four of the five subsectors (agricultural feedstock and chemicals, drugs and pharmaceuticals, medical devices and equipment, research, testing and medical laboratories, and bioscience distribution). New Jersey is the only other state to share this distinction, and no state is specialized in all five areas.
“Generally, we see continued growth in the five specified areas, but we are also tracking the development of Indiana’s health information technology sector," said Lori Leroy, public relations and marketing director at BioCrossroads, a public-private collaboration company in Indiana that supports the region's existing research and corporate strengths while encouraging new business development.
“Indiana’s average wage per employee in 2009 was just over $80,000. It shows that we have highly-skilled people working throughout the industry.”
The bioscience field also continues to be a source of high-wage jobs according to the report. The average bioscience job paid $82,697 in 2010 – $36,000 more than the average private sector job – something that is mirrored in Indiana, noted Leroy.
The strength of the bioscience industry, the report noted, is best seen when compared to other leading knowledge-based industries, such as information technology services, aerospace, computer equipment and finance and insurance, all of which recorded net job losses during the same period.
“The bioscience industry is still resilient, even through these difficult economic times,” said Mitch Horowitz, vice president and managing director of Battelle’s Technology Partnership Practice, in a press release. “Looking to the future, the bioscience industry stands out amongst other markets and serves human health, agriculture, biofuels and other industrial applications.”