News & Media

Biotech Industry Sheds Light on Hiring Practices

A new national Labour Market Information (LMI) report was released today on the salaries and demographic profiles of new graduates entering the biotech sector. The BioTalent Canada report, “Opening the Door – Building Careers for New Grads in Biotech,” is sponsored in part by Canada’s Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (Rx&D) and features data collected from new graduates that participated in the federal Career Focus wage subsidy program from 2013 to 2015

New Grad Profile

• Gender: 57% of program participants were female.
• Average age: 25 years old.
• Average program participation-time: 6.3 months.
• Education: 35% of all new graduates who participated in the program had completed a bachelor’s degree; 30% a master’s degree; 25% a college diploma or diploma d’études collégiales (DEC); 5% a doctoral degree and 5% a post-doctoral degree.
• Preferred official language: 88% of participants specified English as their language of choice; 12% specified French. About 20% of participants were fully bilingual in Canada’s two official languages.
• Citizenship: 95% of participants were Canadian citizens; 5% were permanent residents.
• Visible minorities: 24% of participants identified themselves as members of a visible minority.


New Grad Salaries
• Average Salary: The average annual starting-salary was $37,632.
• Salary Increase: For those people that saw an increase in their salary over the duration of the program, the average salary increase was $1,677.
• Gender & Salary: The average annual salary for female participants was $6,728 less than male participants, demonstrating a potential gender-based salary gap.
• Region: The Career Focus wage subsidy program was most utilized by bio-economy companies in Ontario, where nearly half of all new graduates were placed. Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta all had higher salaries than other regions of the country.
Programs Impact on Employment Status
• Previous employment status: 34% of participants were unemployed and 34% were new graduates looking for their first job.
• Post-program employment status: 90% of program participants were still employed full-time.
 

For more information visit BioTalent.

Back

Subscribe to the BAM Newsletter

Sign up for one of BAM's newsletter to learn more about bioscience, happenings in Manitoba's bioeconomy, industry conferences, and BAM training events.

Subscribe