Life Sciences Update | 2022 October

The Labor Crunch

Next Generation Talent: A Look at Enrollments in Major U.S. Universities

Annual Completions for U.S. Life Sciences Degrees

75

There’s currently a robust pipeline of talent in life sciences degree programs in the U.S. as annual completions for life sciences degrees grew by 60% over the last ten years. Completions hit a plateau in the two years leading up to the pandemic. Growth decelerated from 6.3% annually from 2013-2016 to 1.4% in the period between 2017 2020. U.S. educational requirements for life sciences employment skew to higher education degrees with three-fourths of the job postings mentioning higher ed degrees and 47% of all postings indicating at least a bachelor’s degree required to apply. According to data published by the Coalition for Next Generation Life Science, there are currently about 75,000 enrollments in life sciences higher education programs in 34 schools across the U.S. These enrollments include Bachelor’s, Master’s and Ph.D. programs focused on training the next generation of life sciences professionals. While not all of them will enter the labor markets in life sciences, this is a pool that employers can tap in the coming years to fill the growing number of job openings.

70

65

Entering the job market

60

55

50

45

Thousands

40

35

30

25

Source: Lightcast

8 / CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD

LIFE SCIENCES UPDATE | 2022 OCTOBER