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Life Science Industry Contributes $372B to California’s Economy
California’s life science industry provides more than 1.4 million jobs in the region, with a total of $372 billion of economic activity generated in 2019 alone. Biocom’s 2020 Economic Impact Report Databook shows that over the past five years, California’s life science industry experienced a 13% increase in the number of jobs statewide.
California also received the most research funding from National Institutes of Health (NIH) of any state in the country, a total of $4.59 billion in the 2019 fiscal year, notes Biocom, the association representing the California life science industry.
Biocom’s Joe Panetta says, “There is no more important time for our industry than right now, during an unprecedented global pandemic. This report demonstrates that the work the industry does every day has a significant economic impact on California, providing high-paying jobs across the state that contribute to the economic health of our communities.”
Key regional highlights of the report include:
Among the nine counties that surround the San Francisco Bay, the region employed more than 145,000 individuals and supported more than 387,000 jobs, generating a total of $139 billion in economic activity. The sectors that showed the strongest gains and that are expected to lead future growth are biopharmaceutical manufacturing, medical devices and diagnostic equipment, as well as research and lab services.
San Diego County’s life science industry employed more than 68,000 people in 2019, generating nearly 175,000 total job opportunities and contributing $41.3 billion to the local economy. The region saw solid job growth in the areas of biopharmaceuticals manufacturing, medical devices and diagnostic equipment, and research and lab services from 2014 to 2019, boasting 4.8 times the national average concentration of biochemists and biophysicists.
Los Angeles County received more than $1.15 billion in NIH funding in fiscal year 2019, the largest amount of any other county in California. In employing more than 93,000 individuals in 2019 across 2,890 establishments, all sectors of the life science industry in the region generated $44.2 billion in economic activity.
*Photo credit: Michael Vi / Shutterstock.com
For comments, questions or concerns, please contact Dennis Kaiser
- ◦Economy
