Life Sciences Booming Across the United States

The life sciences industry is an economic bright spot across the United States. The life sciences industry consists of companies operating in the fields of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices, biomedical technologies, nutraceuticals, cosmeceuticals, food processing, and others that dedicate their efforts to creating products to improve the lives of organisms. The life sciences industry encompasses several sectors that focus on the study of living organisms. Businesses in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and other areas, develop innovations that benefit human health and play a role in the agriculture, energy, and environmental industries.

A recent Business Facilities article pointed out that advances in research, testing, and manufacturing in the pharmaceutical, biotech, medical devices, and related industries continue to generate high-wage jobs and boost local economies. In fact, in 2021, U.S. biosciences workers earned an average of nearly $126,000 per year, according to the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), which is 85% greater than earnings by counterparts in the overall private sector, and the total economic impact of the biosciences industry on the U.S. economy, as measured by overall output, totaled $2.9 trillion in 2021. A recent report from CBRE noted that the growth in the life sciences industry, driven by the number of clinical drug trials in the U.S., has stabilized after a 2021 surge, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is working to clear its backlog of drug approvals, and approvals can lead to more company formations. Funding also continues to grow from entities as varied as venture capital firms and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), according to CBRE. As life sciences companies gain more funding for research, demand for lab space increases. CBRE reported that total inventory of lab/research and development space in nine major markets has grown by 48%, or roughly 59 million square feet, over the past five years. The firm expects construction deliveries of several million more square feet in 2024.

A recent Council of State Bioscience Association report outlined several economic data points worthy of note:

• Since 2018, Biosciences employers grew their payrolls by 11 percent while the private sector overall experienced a net job decline of 1.5 percent, due to the steep job losses experienced during the initial pandemic wave and economic shutdowns of 2020.
• Bioscience industry establishments and average wages also have risen at double digit rates over the last three-year period.
• The Biosciences industry has not only outperformed the overall economy in recent years, but also other knowledge-and technology-intensive industry sectors such as tech and aerospace manufacturing, in its employment growth.
• All five of the industry’s major subsectors – Pharmaceuticals, Agriculture and Environment, Medical Devices, Research Laboratories, Specialized Distribution – have contributed to the employment growth seen since 2020, led by impressive, double digit jobs gains in research, testing, medical labs and pharmaceutical manufacturing, especially during the pandemic.

United States EDC States Life Sciences Profile

Source: Council of State Biosciences Association

Life sciences is a major part of the economy in the United States EDC region with the state of Illinois leading the region with over four thousand life science companies employing over 90,000 people and paying a high-average wage of over $140,000. Life sciences is a major economic driver in the United States and throughout the Midwest.