MassBioEd News
June 3, 2025
by Hannah Green
Despite stunted biotech job growth in 2024, Massachusetts still leads the nation in life sciences jobs
Although job growth in Massachusetts’ life sciences sector was largely stagnant last year, the Bay State still outpaces the nation in terms of job postings and employment growth.
A new report from MassBioEd, a nonprofit educational foundation established by trade group MassBio, found that there were 143,142 life sciences jobs in the state in 2024. This represents just a 0.03% growth since 2023.
Massachusetts’ life sciences job growth was 2.5% in 2023. From 2013 to 2023, the state’s life sciences industry had grown at an average annual rate of 6.7%.
The slowed growth rate is unsurprising, given the widespread layoffs and economic uncertainty that have impacted the sector in more recent years. In 2024, the Business Journal recorded more than 4,940 workers who lost their jobs at Massachusetts life sciences companies.
Tariffs, NIH funding cuts and layoffs at the FDA introduced increased uncertainty to the biotech industry in 2024. However, some local companies, like Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: VRTX) and Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE: BSX), that grew their headcount over last year.
“What it showed is, even with those layoffs, a lot of other companies that we know are hiring in big numbers, and they might be some smaller companies, so you don’t hear about them as much,” Sunny Schwartz, CEO of MassBioEd, told the Business Journal.
In the past, MassBioEd has provided commentary in its report about the supply and demand for life sciences jobs. Last year, MassBioEd predicted that Massachusetts wouldn’t educate enough employees to fill the 38,000 new jobs it expected the state to add by 2033.
Schwartz said its report is a bit smaller this year because a national report by the Life Science Workforce Collaborative is coming out in a few weeks — in time for the BIO International Convention scheduled to take place in Boston this month. This year’s MassBioEd report doesn’t contain data on whether the supply of workers will meet future demand.
However, the report does look ahead to 2029, projecting that the life sciences industry will add 16,633 net new jobs. While the overall Massachusetts economy is expected to grow its employment by about 3.4%, the life sciences industry is looking at 11.6% growth, according the report.
Postings for jobs in Massachusetts’ life sciences industry are down over the past two years, but MassBioEd said the state is still better than the nation in life sciences job postings as a share of overall postings, the report states.
“Life sciences continues to be a huge driver for the Massachusetts economy,” Schwartz said.
Anecdotally, Schwartz said CEOs have told her there is still a supply-demand imbalance, especially in specialized roles like clinical operations and AI technology.
The positions with the highest projected job growth over the next decade are roles in computing and IT, which is looking at 35% growth. That’s followed by engineering and architecture with 24% growth and business and financial with 23% growth.