Job Trends
Labor Market Reports
Among those who connected salary increases to swapping out employers, 75% saw pay rise by at least 6%, and the most often cited increase was 10%, according to the just-released BioSpace salary report.
BioSpace‘s 2026 U.S. Life Sciences Salary Report delivers a comprehensive look at how salaries, bonuses and benefits evolved over the past year amid ongoing economic pressure and workforce recalibration. It uncovers not just what people are earning, but how they’re thinking about compensation, career moves and total rewards in 2026.
BioSpace data show job postings live increased quarter over quarter, while layoffs fell year over year.
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Last month, for the first time in nearly four years, average job postings live on BioSpace did not decline year over year. In another encouraging sign, the number of biopharmas letting employees go fell.
Career Advice
Recruiters can play a significant role in biopharma professionals getting hired, especially in an employer-driven job market. However, when working with them, candidates need to avoid making six key mistakes, from waiting too long to ask for help to prematurely contacting hiring companies.
THE LATEST
ImmunityBio will lay off 15 employees in California, mostly in El Segundo, effective Nov. 25. The company is also letting go 16 employees later this month.
Big Pharma companies Bayer and Johnson & Johnson are downsizing their New Jersey workforces while Pfizer cuts jobs in Ireland. Many of the layoffs are effective by the end of the year.
Designed to create hundreds of jobs and add up to $1 billion to Massachusetts’ gross domestic product by the start of 2030, MassBio’s five-year strategic plan addresses challenges including skill gaps and talent shortages.
As it shifts focus to a death receptor 3 (DR3) antagonist antibody, Shattuck Labs is cutting a significant number of employees before the end of the year.
About a month after reporting it’s had a tough time starting enough patients on its treatments, bluebird bio announced it will lay off about 25% of its employees, over half of whom work in R&D.
Athira Pharma will cut about 49 positions, including two people in the C-suite. The announcement follows the company’s disappointing results for its investigational Alzheimer’s therapy.
Bristol Myers Squibb is continuing its cost-savings measures with layoffs in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. The company announced earlier this year that it will eliminate 2,200 jobs by the end of 2024 in a bid to save $1.5 billion through 2025.
Oncternal Therapeutics will lay off about 10 workers as it explores “strategic alternatives” that could include asset sales or an M&A.
For the first eight months of 2024, California had the most job postings live on BioSpace—37.7% more than Massachusetts. Last year, Massachusetts ranked No.1 for the same time period.
Astellas Pharma’s new life sciences center houses its first U.S.-based SakuLab, an incubator space for external partners, as well as its engineered small molecules unit.