OTTAWA, March 30, 2015 /CNW/ - 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.
Among the interesting trends that are highlighted in the report:
The cost of hiring new graduates continues to be a challenge for companies in biotech. In BioTalent Canada's 2013 labour market study, Sequencing the Data, a majority of biotech companies surveyed across Canada stated their greatest business challenges as "access to capital," followed closely by "access to talent."
The Career Focus wage subsidy program addresses both these challenges directly. Part of the federal government's Youth Employment Strategy, the program opens the door for new graduates to their first biotech job by offsetting some of the costs of hiring.
BioTalent Canada applauds government initiatives to help more graduates land their first jobs, and help companies in the sector access new talent. "In the last two years, BioTalent Canada has disbursed over $2.5 million in wage subsidies to 88 biotech employers, who hired 255 new grads," says Rob Henderson, President & CEO of BioTalent Canada. "Career Focus is by far our most successful program. Its popularity is testament to how desperately small and medium size biotech companies need government programs like these to continue to push their business goals forward and drive the bio-economy," says Henderson.
"The success of the Career Focus wage subsidy program is a perfect example of the power of partnerships between government, industry and academia,' says Russell Williams, President, Rx&D. "When we have better jobs, better healthcare and better health outcomes for patients, all Canadians benefit."
The data in the new report indicates that wage subsidies create jobs for Canada's under-employed youth. At the end of the program, 90% of the new graduates that participated were still employed full-time, 68% of whom were employed with the same company. Many employers doubted positions would have been created otherwise. "We only began considering this position due to the subsidy," says Lynn Menegotto, Human Resource Manager at Mantech Inc., one of the employers that benefitted from the program.
Interestingly, the data in "Opening the Door" conflicts with the opinion that new graduates need at least a year of work experience to be considered a viable hire. With the typical new graduate participating in the program for 6.3 months, and with 90% retaining employment within biotech, employers demonstrated the value they place on young people with far less on-the-job experience.
The report was also sponsored by:
Ag-West Bio
Apotex
BioNova
Canadian Renewable Fuels Association (CRFA)
Drake International
Life Science Association of Manitoba (LSAM)
Therapure Biopharma
University of Toronto Mississauga
To view or download a copy of the full report
About Career Focus
The Career Focus Program is a wage subsidy program funded by the federal Youth Employment Strategy, for bio-economy employers to hire the talent they need and for recent graduates to gain the work experience they require – by subsidizing the salary of a recent graduate. For more information on how this program has impacted Canada's bio-economy visit www.biotalent.ca/success.
About Canada's Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (Rx&D)
Canada's Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (Rx&D) is the national association representing the voice of Canada's innovative pharmaceutical industry. We serve our membership by advocating for policies that enable the discovery, development and delivery of innovative medicines and vaccines to improve the lives of all Canadians. We support our memberships' commitment to being a valued partner in the Canadian healthcare system. We represent more than 50 companies investing over $1-billion in R&D annually, fuelling Canada's knowledge-based economy, while contributing over $3-billion overall to Canada's economy. Guided by our Code of Ethical Practices, we work with governments, private payers, healthcare professionals and stakeholders in a highly ethical manner. For more information please visit http://www.canadapharma.org.
About BioTalent Canada
BioTalent Canada is the HR partner of Canada's bio-economy. As an HR expert and national non-profit organization, BioTalent Canada focuses on building partnerships and skills for Canada's bio-economy to ensure the industry has access to job-ready people. Through projects, research and product development BioTalent Canada connects employers with job seekers, delivers human resource information and skills development tools so the industry can focus on strengthening Canada's biotech business. For more information please visit www.biotalent.ca.
SOURCE BioTalent Canada
Image with caption: "Opening The Door, Building Careers for New Grads in Biotech, Salary and Demographic Profile 2015 (CNW Group/BioTalent Canada)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20150330_C6386_PHOTO_EN_13668.jpg
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