The Digest of Biotech Job Trends Massachusetts. BRIEF I: Series Introduction ENTRY LEVEL JOBS

Transcription

1 1 The Digest of Biotech Job Trends Massachusetts 2015 BRIEF I: Series Introduction ENTRY LEVEL JOBS

2 2 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 Trend 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 labcentered, inquiry-based learning. Our Job Trends initiative identifies workforce needs and illuminates the pathway from the classroom to careers in the life sciences. About this Summary Brief The initial Briefs covering job listing trends in the biopharmaceutical industry are focused on entry level positions. This Series Introduction provides an overview of the basic information derived from research on entry level positions (position requiring two years or less of experience). Most of the data used in these Briefs is sourced from Burning Glass Technologies, Labor/Insight Real-Time Labor Market Information Tool. Additional sources, where noted, include the Bureau of Labor Statistics (Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics OES) and the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council (MassBio). Additional Briefs in this series include: Acknowledgements Brief II: Entry Level Jobs Requiring Associate Degree or Below Brief III: Entry Level Jobs Requiring Bachelor s Degree Brief IV: Entry Level Jobs Requiring Graduate Degrees The analysis found in the Brief 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 3 Focus of Entry Level Briefs Based on Burning Glass Labor Market Information database, there were approximately 26,000 job listings connected to Massachusetts biopharmaceutical organizations in Of these, 9,815 were Core biopharma job listings. Core listings include those for which at least some background in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields is listed as a requisite for a position. An example would be a sales representative listing that requires knowledge of biological systems as a job requirement. By contrast, a biotech company will post an accountant position but not require any STEM background for the position. The former position we treat as a core job listing. The latter we don t. The Briefs focus on an even more narrow slice of the core job listings - the 2,251 jobs listed for entry level positions, those job listings for which only 0-2 years of experience was a listed as a requirement by employers. Twenty-three percent of all Core biopharma job listings are at the entry level. 9,815 "core" biopharma job listings with degree requirements in 2015 Bachelor s 1,575 2,251 Entry Level Job Listings Graduate 366 Associate or less, 310 The focus of the Entry Level Briefs is only upon these 2,251 positions.

4 4 Chart A: Entry Level Job Listings by Degree Required, Graduate Bachelor's Associate Chart A shows growth in the number of job listings at each degree level between 2010 and In that time period, job listings requiring an associate degree or below increased by 77%, followed by those requiring a graduate degree at 45%, and a bachelor s degree at 38%. Chart B, below, shows that both job listings requiring associate degrees or below and those requiring graduate degrees gained slightly in percentage of all entry level positions in the period, while those requiring a bachelor s declined slightly. Chart B: Job Listings by Degree Requirements by Percentage, % 70.9% 72.1% 71.7% 70.3% 70.0% Associate Bachelor's Graduate 16.1% 15.7% 16.2% 14.3% 15.8% 16.3% 11.2% 13.4% 11.7% 14.0% 13.9% 13.8%

5 5 Degree Requirements, Positions requiring an associate degree and under have more often made up the smallest educational attainment segment of entry-level job listings since 2010, hovering between a high of 15.8% in 2014 and a low of 11.2% in Of all biopharma industry entry level job postings, a bachelor s degree is the most common educational requirement of employers. On the whole, job listings at Entry/Bachelor s Degree level accounted for just over 15% of the entire pool of industry job posts (9,815) in The share of all entry level jobs with these educational requirements has declined slightly in recent years, falling from a high of 72.8% in 2010 to 70% in 2015 Positions requiring a graduate degree have generally made up the second-largest segment of entrylevel job listings since 2010, hovering between a high of 16.3% in 2015 and a low of 13.4% in While slight changes are noted in these degree requirement trends, there were no major shifts in the relative percentage of positions made available to degree holders at the entry level. These trends need continued monitoring. Job Categories Summary, 2015 Chart C: Leading Job Category Listings, 2015, by Degree Requirements Associate or Below Listings Bachelor's Degree Listings Graduate Degree Listings Medical Laboratory Technician 55 Medical Scientist 329 Medical Scientist 122 Manufacturing / Production Techn 33 Sales Representative 213 Biologist 50 Quality Inspector / Technician 22 Clinical Research Coordinator/Ma 110 Biostatistician 29 Medical Laboratory Technologist 19 Medical Laboratory Technician 81 Chemist 23 Health Technician / Technologist 17 Biologist 71 Statistician 15 Medical Assistant 14 Quality Control Analyst 67 Medical Director 14 Assembler / Fabricator 14 Medical Laboratory Technologist 65 Biochemist 12 Production Worker 13 Software Developer/Engineer 54 Program Manager 11 Animal Care Technician 13 Biological Technician 52 Data Mining Analyst 11 Sales Representative 13 Chemical/Process Engineer 49 Computer Scientist 9 Chart C shows the leading job listing categories in 2015 by minimum degree requirements. Those categories shaded in blue are job categories found at both the associate and below and bachelor s degree requirement levels. Those shaded in orange are categories found at both the bachelor s and graduate degree levels. As will be seen in the individual degree level Briefs, with respect to specialized skills, as opposed to baseline skills presented next, a variance is often apparent at different degree levels.

6 6 Baseline Skills Baseline skills refer to the underlying, foundational skills that permeate all jobs and industries. These skills, found consistently across the economy, include organizational skills, communications skills, writing, and assorted computer proficiency. The source for most of the data found in the brief is Burning Glass Labor Insights, which captures both baseline skills and specialized skills from published job listings. In contrast to baseline skills, specialized skills are occupation specific (e.g. chemistry to be a chemist). The leading 10 requested baseline skills found in job listings at the entry level at both the associates and below and Bachelor s levels vary little. Research as a skill is far more prominent at the bachelor s level than at the associate or below level. At both the bachelor s and graduate levels of entry level openings, were the same top six most frequently noted baseline skills. Chart D: Top Baseline Skills by Educational Requirements, Core BioPharma Entry Level Job Openings, Research 30% 52% 64% Communication Skills Writing Organizational Skills Microsoft Excel Problem Solving Detail-Oriented Troubleshooting Quality Assuance and Control Microsoft Office 36% 41% 35% 22% 28% 33% 28% 16% 16% 15% 15% 9% 14% 13% 15% 18% 11% 26% 11% 16% 11% 49% 56% Graduate Bachelor's Sub-BA

7 7 Chart D presents the top baseline skills provided in job listings by requisite degree. The graph illustrates that many baseline skill requirements cut across all degree levels, while also highlighting that certain baseline skills are more prominent at different degree levels. The individual entry level Briefs provide additional detail on leading job categories presented in Chart D, as well as details on specialized skills. In Brief Entry level jobs made up 23% of all core biopharma job listings in Massachusetts in While the number of entry level positions available for those with an associate degree or less has risen since 2010, the actual number of such jobs listings was 310 in % of all entry level listings and just 2.5% of all core job listings for which degree requirements were included. Several baseline skills required of job candidates are found at every degree level. Further Research The analysis found in the Briefs provides a basic snapshot of job listings at the entry level and how opportunities vary by degree level. Additional research and insight is required to better understand the dynamics around job opportunities at this level. Does organization size impact capacity to list jobs at the entry level? Given the number of job categories in common at the associate and bachelor s level, are jobs being over listed at the bachelor s versus associate level? What are the job dynamics within these job categories, medical scientist, for instance, which includes a broad range of job titles? While these briefs present information on leading job categories at the entry level, less is known about the challenges faced by companies in filling these positions. Throughout 2016, MassBioEd will be gathering such information from industry. In addition, a Skills Advisory Group will be providing insight to MassBioEd for the purpose of answering the questions noted here and the many more we have in regard to job demand, skills alignment, and future demand forecasting. This effort does not exist on an island. As other research is developed by other organizations, MassBioEd will readily include insight from such studies into its research and analysis.