California Tops Biopharma Job Openings So Far in 2024, Per BioSpace Data

While California’s biopharma industry faces significant challenges including layoffs, the state had the most job postings live on BioSpace for the first eight months of 2024, a year-over-year improvement in terms of ranking. During the same time period in 2023, California was No. 2, behind Massachusetts. This year, it had 37.7% more jobs live than The Bay State.

From Jan. 1 to Aug. 31, 2024, the top 10 states with jobs live on BioSpace were:

1. California: 9,241
2. Massachusetts: 6,709
3. New Jersey: 5,478
4. Illinois: 5,125
5. New York: 4,155
6. North Carolina: 3,554
7. Indiana: 2,883
8. Maryland: 1,351
9. Virginia: 1,015
10. Ohio: 899

Of those states, only half showed year-over-year improvement in the number of job postings live: Illinois (+11.2%), New Jersey (+24.4%), Ohio (+24.5%), North Carolina (+29%) and Indiana (+82.6%). The other states had decreases. For example, California is down 32.9%, while Massachusetts dropped 53.4%.

Regarding the states with fewer job postings live on BioSpace, it’s important to note that generally speaking, biopharma employers are hiring less this year. This is in part due to a difficult funding environment. In addition, some are cutting advertising budgets, which may be contributing to fewer advertised job postings.

While California grabbed the No. 1 spot for job postings live through the first eight months of 2024, it hit its highest monthly total—2,074—back in January. The monthly numbers have been under 2,000 since then and dipped to a low of 1,623 in June. However, there were 1,717 jobs live in August, the fourth-highest monthly total for the state this year.

California Job Postings Live on BioSpace, January–August 2024

The slight fluctuation and recent uptick in jobs live on BioSpace seem to align with industry analysis from Mike Guerra, president and CEO of California Life Sciences, a state advocacy group. In late July, he told BioSpace that although life sciences hiring in California has slowed compared to 2023, employment should hold steady for the remainder of 2024.

As far as hiring plans are concerned, a BioSpace workforce planning survey that shaped the company’s 2024 Job Market Trends report for the second half of the year provided a few insights. It found that 56% of the 39 surveyed employers with offices in California are actively recruiting, and 67% predicted their number of open roles will remain the same or increase.

The top five areas where these companies anticipate hiring for the second half of 2024 are:

1. R&D: 45.7%
2. Technology: 34.3%
3. Manufacturing and production: 40%
4. Clinical: 40%
5. Sales and marketing: 31.4%

Job seekers looking for their next opportunities in California will have competition not only from employed professionals looking for a change but also those let go this year. There have been over 35 announced layoffs so far affecting over an estimated 3,000 employees in the state, according to BioSpace data. The workforce reductions have occurred at companies of varying sizes, including Astellas Gene Therapies, Bristol Myers Squibb, FibroGen, Takeda and Thermo Fisher Scientific.

California layoffs announced in the past two weeks include:

• BioMarin will lay off 147 employees in California effective Nov. 1, according to an Aug. 28 Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice. Those employees are likely part of a previously announced workforce reduction of about 225 employees globally.
• ImmunityBio is laying off 16 employees in California (five in Culver City and 11 in El Segundo), according to an Aug. 30 Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice. The biotech’s workforce reduction will be effective Oct. 29.
• Biotech firm Genentech will lay off 93 employees at its South San Francisco headquarters, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice and SFGATE.  The layoffs are effective Oct. 8, according to the WARN notice.

Regarding unemployment in California, on Aug. 16, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in July was 5.2%, tying for the nation’s third-highest unemployment rate. The bureau has not yet released state-specific unemployment numbers for August.

BLS also shared positive news for California on Aug. 16, noting that from July 2023 to July 2024, the nation’s largest job gains were in that state, with 284,400 additional jobs.

Despite this year’s layoffs and other challenges such as a tough funding environment, there is optimism among some California biopharma companies who responded to the BioSpace workforce planning survey. When asked if they have concerns about their company’s stability or performance in the second half of 2024, 53% said no.

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