Economic Impact Increases but Employment Falls for NJ Life-Science Industry

Bridgewater, NJ (Aug. 18)-The Healthcare Institute of New Jersey (HINJ) released a new research study showing that New Jersey’s life-science industry experienced stable growth in 2007. The report notes that the global business model of the state’s biopharmaceutical and medical-technology companies faces ongoing challenges. HINJ is a trade association for the research-based pharmaceutical and medical-technology industries in New Jersey.

The report examines the industry’s socioeconomic impact on New Jersey and includes data about employment figures, payroll, expenditures for research and development (R&D), vendor support, state and local tax payments, and donations to New Jersey charities.

The study data for 2007 reveal the following changes from the previous year’s report:

• HINJ member companies had an estimated $27 billion economic impact on the New Jersey economy, compared with an estimated $26 billion in 2006.

• HINJ member companies employed 61,347 people, compared with 61,971 in 2006.

• HINJ member companies’ capital construction costs valued $2.8 billion, compared with $1.7 billion in 2006.

• R&D expenditures totaled $7.9 billion, compared with $7.5 billion in 2006.

The report’s other findings include the following:

• HINJ member jobs accounted for an aggregate payroll of $7.7 billion. New Jersey residents held approximately 85% of these jobs.

• The average annual salary of employees in the biopharmaceutical and medical-technology sector in 2007 was $126,130, which ranks second only to the average base salary of securities and commodity brokers.

• Life-sciences employees contributed approximately $6.5 billion in disposable income to the state’s economy.

Deloitte conducted the study for HINJ, and it was presented during press conferences at Alpharma (Bridgewater, NJ) and Catalent Pharma Solutions (Moorestown, NJ), two of the HINJ member companies that provided data for the annual survey.