The biotechnology industry is one of the fastest growing industries in California and, as such, creates a demand for qualified, well-trained personnel.

Estimates for upwards of 100,000 jobs in the biotechnology industry were, in part, why the Biotechnology Initiative was created by the Chancellor's Office of California Community Colleges. The Biotechnology Initiative funds six biotechnology centers throughout the State as well as a Statewide Biotechnology Initiative Director's Office. The Central Coast Biotechnology Center, sponsor of this Workforce Census, is one of these six grant-funded biotechnology centers.

The 1998 Biotechnology Workforce Census represents the biotechnology industry needs assessment in the region of California served by the Central Coast Biotechnology Center. The region consists of a portion of both Kern and Los Angeles Counties, and all of San Luis Obispo County, Santa Barbara County, and Ventura County.

The census was undertaken to enable biotechnology firms to identify for educators what they consider to be important job skills, to offer insight about the focus of educational efforts, to recommend appropriate training programs, and to indicate developing trends which may impact agencies that provide services to this industry.

Those interested in receiving additional information about the work of the Central Coast Biotechnology Center may contact:

The Resource Group (TRG) served as research counsel to the project and was responsible for study methodology, survey administration, data analysis and report production. TRG’s copyrighted survey instruments and analytic programs provided the basic structure of the study. For information regarding research and survey services for this and related topic areas, please contact:

The Resource Group
1-800-229-5020

The 1998 Biotechnology Workforce Skills Census provides industry staff, educators, trainers and consultants with direct, specific information from biotechnology firms.

Biotechnology is actually a process rather than an industry segment, and businesses that use biotechnology processes cover a wide range of classification. For the purposes of this Census,
biotechnology businesses were defined broadly as:

Examples of industries that may use biotechnology processes could be as diverse as:

• Animal Specialties
• Biological Products
• Industrial or Agricultural Chemicals
• Laboratory Analytical Instruments
• Medicinal Laboratories
• Ornamental Floriculture
• Pharmaceutical Preparations
• Testing Laboratories
• Wines and Brandy Spirits

These industry segments and others were included in the survey.

The goals of the Central Coast Biotechnology Center (CCBC) are as follows:

• Determine the workforce needs of the biotechnology, biomedical, agricultural, pharmaceutical and other related industries in the Central Coast region (Region 6 of the Community Colleges of California).
• Promote collaborative efforts to fulfill mutual workforce needs for regional economic development, facilitating biotechnology industry health and expansion.
• Establish and promote quality certificate programs, contract education courses, retraining programs, and staff development activities.
• Recruit and retrain students interested in biotechnology and related careers, especially from minority populations underrepresented in the sciences.
• Develop and share effective learning materials and methods to increase scientific literacy and rational decision-making in medical, plant, and environmental biotechnology.
• Implement and disseminate improved curriculum and teaching methods.
• Establish a clearinghouse database for laboratory equipment, supplies, reagents, software and other resources for distribution from industry donation sources.
• Develop an efficient system for the support of internships, mentors, seminar speakers and workshops.

For further information, please contact:

The biotechnology industry involves the use of living organisms, cells and materials to make or modify products and applies technologies to improving plants, animals, human life and the environment. Because of the nature of its applications, the biotechnology industry and its products are subject to much scrutiny from the government and financial communities, resulting in delays in moving products into the marketplace and thus revenues to business.

As these changes take place, the need for a prepared workforce or a workforce that stays flexible during these dynamic times becomes essential. The Central Coast Biotechnology Center (CCBC) and similar workforce training and service providers are preparing themselves to respond to this need by refining or developing training programs that are relevant to the workplace and to the changing requirements of businesses in the biotechnology industry.

This assessment was designed to begin the dialogue with local biotechnology and biotechnology-related businesses to understand their current standing and what they need in terms of workforce to stay strong in today’s regionally and internationally competitive industry and economy.

Members of the Central Coast Biotechnology Center (CCBC) worked with initial survey formats developed by The Resource Group to produce a practical industry-specific survey instrument. The survey was designed to be self-administered and completed within a 12- to 15-minute timeframe.

To cover the service areas of the six colleges in the Central Coast Region, the survey area included San Luis Obispo County, Santa Barbara County, Ventura County and parts of Los Angeles and Kern Counties.

Three business lists were used to make up the survey universe. The first was a list of biotechnology companies previously identified by the CCBC. For the second list, The Resource Group (TRG) worked to identify any seed companies, forensic laboratories and research centers in the region not already accounted for on the CCBC’s list. To produce the final list used, the CCBC project team was asked to identify major industrial classifications that would encompass firms within biotechnology or biological technology-related industries. A list was developed containing 23 Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes.

The resulting database of 800 biotechnology or biotechnology-related businesses in the Central Region served as the universe for this project.

The census team distributed the 12- to 15-minute confidential census to identified businesses. Census instruments were distributed by mail and fax. In many cases, the mailings and faxes were followed by personal telephone follow-up calls. Three separate fielding cycles were employed in order to yield adequate response rates. The first fielding cycle began in September 1998. Subsequent fielding occurred from November 1998 through early January 1999.

Every identified business received a survey packet informing them of the project and providing them with key contact information on the CCBC had they wanted to bypass the census process and directly seek assistance or services from the Center.

These efforts resulted in 58 usable responses. Project team members are unaware of any other local contemporary biotechnology industry research project of this size and scope.

Any survey research is limited by the size and diversity of its sample. Great care was given that the sample universe drawn for this study represented a database of known biotechnology or biotechnology-related industry employers in the Central Coast Region.

The CCBC Biotechnology Workforce Census yielded representative views of some 58 biotechnology executives and human resource directors. This is the largest of such efforts in the Region on this topic area.

Combined, the businesses providing their views report employing over 16,400 individuals. This represents a powerful biotechnology and biotechnology-related employer group, and the results should prove useful for planning and program development purposes.

The findings are presented in three sections:

• Company Profile
• Skills and Training Requirements
• Future Workforce Needs

The Company Profile section deals with various characteristics of the biotechnology and biotechnology-related firms that responded to the CCBC Biotechnology Workforce Census.

The Skills and Training Requirements section presents the education and specific knowledge and skills required of entry-level technicians, industry-specific skills needing upgrading among current employees, availability of training programs for staff and preferred training delivery methods.

The Future Workforce Needs section details the projected hiring needs for the next 12 months and for the next three years and lists the skills responding area biotechnology and biotechnology-related employers say their future workforce will need. This final section also includes a reporting of activities of interest to responding firms that can help the CCBC and other training providers in the Central Coast Region better prepare individuals for work in biotechnology and biotechnology-related industries.

The type and mix of biotechnology and biotechnology-related firms varies by region and reporting methods of the reviewing authority. A standard measure is market segment, but there are no fixed definitions of segment classification.

For the purposes of this study, the following market segments and sub-sectors were selected to provide detailed data.

Because some responding firms consider themselves to be operating in more than one market segment and/or sector, the percentages below may total more than 100%.

Nearly three out of 10 responding firms self-identify as fitting within the environmental segment. The supplier cluster was the second largest group, with some 19% of responding firms identifying with this segment.

In 1995, the California Biotechnology Education Consortium (CBEC) conducted a similar workforce census among Southern California biotechnology companies. Following is a table which displays the market segmentation from their study as compared to the current Central Coast Region study.

The biotechnology industry has more company closures, consolidations, mergers, regroupings and takeovers than most other industries. Therefore, company longevity can be indicative of a company’s prospects for survival and its need for workforce training and/or additional employees.

Due to the length of existence of responding companies, it is not surprising that more than eight out of 10 businesses are fully operational. Some 12% are in the developmental stage, while less than 4% are in start-up mode.

In general, the need for staff and training varies by stage of development. With the majority of Region businesses in operational mode, the need becomes greater for a larger, more diverse staff. The information obtained from businesses through this project will enable the CCBC and other local providers of training and workforce development programs and services to better meet the needs of developing biotechnology and biotechnology-related businesses in the Region.

More than three-fourths of responding biotechnology and biotechnology-related businesses in the Central Coast Region indicate that their business is growing to some degree–64% indicate they are experiencing at least moderate growth, and 14% report they are in the midst of major business expansion. Approximately 18% say they are holding steady, while a mere 4% of firms indicate they are in a decline mode.

Biotechnology and biotechnology-related companies were asked to indicate their expectations for the industry over the next five years. Over three-fourths anticipate the industry will improve at least slightly–39% expect the industry to "slightly improve" over the five-year period, and 38% are confident the industry will be "better."

As evidenced in the table below, these expectations are a bit more optimistic than those found among Southern California biotechnology businesses surveyed by the California Biotechnology Education Consortium (CBEC) in their 1995 industry census.

Important to any study of workforce needs is information on the size and function of the existing workforce.

Slightly more than three out of five responding area biotechnology and biotechnology-related businesses employ 25 or fewer employees, resulting in a median of 16.0 employees.

Of prime interest to educators and others providing training for current and future biotechnology industry employees is the classifications of employees most likely to require technical skills and competencies. Therefore, the present study of Central Coast biotechnology and biotechnology-related firms included a question asking the employer to indicate the breakdown of their employee base by selected job category.

When viewing the current workforce of responding firms further by job function, the largest group is laboratory technicians, with nearly one-half of the total current workforce classified as such. The highest paid are engineers at an average of $53,394 a year, followed by computer support personnel at an average annual salary of $30,160.

Employee turnover is a challenge to all businesses regardless of industry because it creates additional expenses and decreases employee productivity.

As the table below indicates, the greatest average percentage rate of turnover is among office support personnel, followed by sales personnel. In a year’s time, the rate of turnover in analysis and production is nearly 17%, while the average rate of turnover for technical support personnel is approximately 9%. Other technical jobs see less turnover in a year, with analysis, QA/QC, and R & D realizing an average yearly rate of turnover of 7% or less.

Given a list of common reasons for turnover, responding firms were asked to indicate which they would primarily attribute turnover for each employee category. Responding employers primarily attribute turnover in QA/QC, R & D, sales and technical support to unmet employee salary expectations. Turnover in production is predominantly due to a lack of skills of employees, while turnover among individuals employed in analysis positions is primarily the result of changes in the regional economy and a lack of skills and/or experience.

Typically, biotechnology is viewed as a cutting edge, high technology industry requiring advanced educational degrees for many of its key employees. Data from this present study support this, with 87%, 68% and 63% of local biotechnology and biotechnology-related industry employers requiring entry-level technicians in R & D, analysis and quality assurance, respectively, to have at least a bachelor’s degree.

However, minimum education level requirements for entry-level technicians may be taking a turn in the next couple of years.

These findings support the need for the Center and other local educators to offer appropriate post-secondary courses or certificate programs that will ensure individuals entering biotechnology or biotechnology-related industries have the relevant skills needed to stay employed or advance in the company and/or industry.

Biotechnology and biotechnology-related firms were asked to indicate the knowledge and skills they find essential for entry-level technicians. The census instrument listed 74 potential skills and areas of knowledge for the responding employer to choose from. The 74 skills and knowledge areas were divided into the following 11 topic areas.

Regardless of industry or position, today’s employers find it is essential for employees to have a strong basic education. Central Coast Region biotechnology employers are no different, with many wanting employees that can effectively communicate orally and in writing and possess basic reading skills.

Due to the numerous computer programs available today, the present census simply focused on asking employers to indicate which computer applications, not specific software programs, are needed by their entry level workforce.

Safety

The safety related skills considered by more Central Coast biotechnology and biotechnology-related employers to be essential for entry-level technicians match those topping the list in the 1995 CBEC study. In both studies, the following are the top five safety skill areas.