The average salary in the life sciences is 30% less than in high tech, according to a study by job placement firm Nisha Group, ahead of ISLI-Biomed 2012 11th National Life Sciences and Technology Week in Tel Aviv next week. The good news is that demand is growing for workers in the life sciences, including a 20% jump in demand for chemists.
For the conference, Nisha Group prepared a profile of the average life sciences employee. He/she is educated - 90% of researchers in biotechnology have Ph.D.'s and 90% of research assistants have M.Sc.s, mainly in biology and medical science. Most researchers are 40-50 and the average starting age is 35, after many years in higher education.
60-70% of life sciences employees are women, but 70-80% of CEOs, COOs, CFOs, and business development VPs are men. Notwithstanding this ratio, the sheer number of women in the industry means that there are comparatively more women executives than in other industries. Most of the women's careers include stints as VPs for development, clinical work, and regulations.
In the pharmaceutical industry (chemical drug development, which in Israel is mostly the development of generics), most employees have a B.Sc. or M.Sc. in chemistry, and the gender ratio is 50-50. Here too, men usually have managerial positions in operations and finance, and women have managerial positions in clinical development and regulations. The gender ratio is also equal in drug development and quality control.
The starting age in the industry is 30, and the average employee age is quite high, and there are many people over the age of 55, because many companies are old and stable, and hold on to their employees for years.
Medical devices companies are the youngest in the life sciences industry, and the average employee age is similar to the age in high tech. Most employees have a B.Sc., and alongside degrees in medicine and biology, there are engineers, and technicians. The usual starting age is 25-26, and the average employee age is 36. Men account for 60-70% of employees in the sector, but, again the gender ratio for clinical and regulatory managerial posts is 50-50, apparently because these jobs require a medical or biological background, which is more common among women.
"Salaries for young people in the life sciences are NIS 8,000-12,000," says Nisha Biotech director Lizzy Shoob-London. "Interestingly, a starting researcher with a Ph.D. in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals has exactly the same salary as a machine engineer with a B.Sc. and two years experience in the medical devices sector."
There is wide variability in executive pay, depending on a company's specialization. "The CEO of a successful medical devices company with sales will earn NIS 80,000-100,000, or more, and a VP in such a company can earn NIS 60,000-80,000. Executive salaries in established biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies are 25% lower than the comparable salaries in medical devices companies," says Shoob-London.
The manager of a start-up or incubator graduate company usually earns NIS 35,000-40,000, with higher salaries usually found in medical devices companies, apparently because of their origins in high tech and chances of alternative jobs in high tech.
Despite growing demand for employees in the life sciences, Shoob-London says that 80-90% of undergraduate and graduate students biology and related fields cannot find work to match their skills. Many take teaching or administrative jobs, or go abroad, and others switch to high tech.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 17, 2012
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