The Baltimore region has generated a relatively low number of private-sector bioscience jobs for a city with two major research universities, but a three-pronged approach could help change that while ensuring that low-skilled workers also benefit from the sector's growth, according to a new report.
The report, released this week, was commissioned by the city's Workforce Investment Board to create a plan for preparing area workers for careers in bioscience. The long-term planning comes as the city presses to expand a sector that now employs about 11,000 with initiatives such as a large business park for biotechnology companies adjacent to the Johns Hopkins University medical complex on the city's east side.
"The importance of this report is that it shows biotechnology companies considering locating in Baltimore that we've started training the work force and are prepared to expand these efforts," said Laurie B. Schwartz, interim head of a nonprofit created to oversee development of the east side park.
The plan recommends:
That a Baltimore Regional Bio Alliance be established. The alliance would be made up of bio employers, government officials and representation from area organizations such as the Greater Baltimore Committee.
Among other things, the alliance would "articulate a bio vision for the region," organize regional bio meetings for business people; promote bioscience opportunities to venture-capital firms; and facilitate regional development of manufacturing and lab space in both the city and the region.
That a new nonprofit organization called BHR2 (Bio Human Resource2) be established to serve as an extension of bio employer's human resource departments. The nonprofit would act like a personnel agency, helping fill vacancies by "by coordinating the delivery of recruitment, training and education services through" existing agencies.
Development and coordination of a range of initiatives that would match educational training with the needs of bioscience employers.
The report, however, notes that the Baltimore area's private-sector bioscience industry is relatively young and small, with its 78 companies employing a median number of 15 employees each (In total, the companies employ 4,800). Such small companies, it notes, generally don't need low-skilled workers, something more prevalent in biotech companies that are manufacturing products.
So the report recommends that the training portion of the program be implemented in five to 10 years, when the industry here has matured. In the meantime, it suggests that the city apply for a $100,000 Department of Labor grant and use $180,000 in existing training funds to begin a Bio Pilot Program that would train 60 workers for placement into 50 bio jobs.
Schwartz said the Baltimore Bioscience Coalition, a group of government officials, bioscience executives and others formed to oversee the delivery of the report by consultants Duc Duong of Gaithersburg and Robert Snyder of Bethesda, also might help jump-start aspects of the plan.
The city has targeted biotechnology jobs for growth because the industry appears to be growing nationally, the jobs generally are well-paying and Baltimore already has a foundation of them at Johns Hopkins, the University of Maryland-Baltimore and National Institutes of Health laboratories here. But, as the report notes, the city also faces enormous challenges in preparing its work force to take such jobs, which often require advanced scientific degrees.
While Maryland's Department of Business and Economic Development boasts that the state has one of the highest proportions of doctoral scientists and engineers in the nation, the report notes a number of statistics showing that training Baltimore City residents for biotech jobs presents some formidable challenges. About 57 percent of residents 25 or older have no formal degree of any sort, it says.
Still, the report projects that the number of metropolitan area biotechnology jobs will expand 40 percent by 2007, to 15,400, for several reasons. Among them: 600,000 square feet of office and lab space is either under construction now or in the planning stages at Johns Hopkins, the University of Maryland-Baltimore and biotech companies such as Cambrex Corp.
The NIH is doubling its budget from $13 billion in 1998 to $26 billion in 2003, money likely to pour in part into local research labs. And two biotech parks, the one adjacent to Johns Hopkins and another, much-smaller park near the University of Maryland, are being planned.
While only 12 percent to 15 percent of the 11,000 workers currently employed in bioscience are low-skilled, the consultants project that number could increase significantly as biotechnology firms grow and more begin manufacturing their products. Starting salaries range from $17,000 for lab animal caretakers to $30,000 for production technicians working on manufacturing lines.
"Hopefully, the biotech park on the east side and the west side will create more jobs, more opportunities," said Karen Sitnick, director of the city's Office of Employment Development. "We know it's not going to happen overnight."