Massachusetts’ biotech workforce remained relatively stagnant last year, following several years of slowing growth, according to data released Tuesday by MassBioEd, an industry group focused on workforce development.
The new data shows there were some 143,000 life science jobs in 2024, an increase of just 0.03% from 2023, according to the nonprofit. The relatively flat numbers follow several years of slowing growth in step with a drop in biotech venture capital funding, leaving companies spending cautiously and laying off some workers.
MassBioEd CEO Sunny Schwartz said the data shows a “steady” industry in the face of layoffs. But the report also predates fresh obstacles like the Trump administration’s tariffs and federal cuts.
“It’s unclear now where that’s going to land,” Schwartz said. “No matter what happens, we need to be having new researchers developing new ideas for new cures and cares for people,’’ she said. “We’re going to keep fighting for that.”
Since 2022, Massachusetts’ life sciences sector has outpaced private sector job growth, according to MassBioEd. But several local professionals said they are concerned about upheavals in federal agencies and clawbacks of research funding.
Adam Thomas, chief people officer at MOMA Therapeutics, a Cambridge-based biotech focused on early trials of cancer medicines, said the federal cuts add to continued worries about attracting additional investments.
“It’s led to a pretty big contraction in terms of the biotech industry in general with a number of firms making reductions and making layoffs and that’s fed through to the job market,” he said. “It is, unfortunately, the worst job market in biotech in living memory.”
This year has already been tough for some, with many layoffs already in the first quarter. The National Institutes of Health has cut nearly $700 million for the state’s biomedical research and frozen more than $2 billion in funds to Harvard University — giving another shock to the biotech system, according to the industry group Massachusetts Biotechnology Council. The group council estimates that every $1 million in NIH funding supports 8.2 jobs in the state.
Massachusetts’ success in biotech has been tied to its direct investments, tax incentives and public-private partnerships. Thomas said the current challenging environment demands further effort.
“In the absence of federal support, anything we can do on a state basis to really shore up both the academic and the early pre-clinical work, I think it’s going to be money well spent because otherwise I think the leadership position that’s been hard earned is going to be (an) easy loss,” Thomas said.
MassBioEd along with other industry experts said keeping the state’s edge requires building the workforce around current areas of demand, such as a strong need for talent with AI and machine learning skills.
A longer term worry, many say, is that the Trump administration’s sweeping changes to visas will cause a drain of industry talent, as people seek opportunity outside the United States. Recent data shows many foreign-born STEM graduates typically remain in the United States after graduation.
Andrew Chan at Stratacuity, a biotech recruiting firm, said hiring is still strong in some areas, but has shifted from early stage research to later stage clinical trials and where products are further in development. That’s left people who focus on early research out of jobs.
“It used to always be an incredible industry for opportunity,” Chan said. “There are extremely talented folks who’ve been unemployed for six, 12 plus months.”
While the majority of biotech jobs demand college or advanced degrees, MassBioEd said life science jobs accessible without a college degree continue to increase and are now 14.4% of the state’s biotech workforce.
John Doyle, education director at the Gloucester Marine Genomics Institute — which specializes in skills based training for those without college degrees — said student placements have mirrored the shift in investments, from early to later stage products and manufacturing. But he said there’s still plenty of demand.
“It’s been a little bit of ‘let’s broaden our horizons, let’s think a little bit beyond what we were doing three years ago.’ But it’s still working out,” Doyle said. “People still need that entry level talent.”
Despite the headwinds, Doyle and others remain optimistic that life science employment will continue to be a driver of economic growth over the next decade in the state.
“Biotech as a whole, it’s too big to fail,’’ he said. “It’s embedded in everything that we do. So it’s going to be cyclical in nature, just like any other sort of business.”
