Gardner study finds Utah life sciences job growth tops U.S.

Brice Wallace 

Utah’s life science industry job growth led all states during the nine-year period between 2012 and 2021, according to a recently released research brief from the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute.

Utah’s average job growth rate of 5.7 percent during that time topped the average of{mprestriction ids="1,3"} 3.2 percent for all other states. The No. 2 state for industry average job growth was Massachusetts, at 5.2 percent, followed by Arizona, at 5.1 percent. Those three were the only states with a job growth rate in life sciences topping 5 percent.

The findings are part of an update looking at Utah’s life sciences industry, scheduled for release this fall. The institute in 2018 found that Utah had the fastest-growing life sciences community in the U.S. between 2012 and 2017.

The research brief also shows that in 2021 Utah had 2.9 percent of its total job is life sciences. That put it No. 2 among states, behind Massachusetts’ 3.7 percent concentration.

Twenty states accounted for 84.2 percent of U.S. life sciences jobs in 2021. Their growth from 2012 to 2021 ranged from Utah’s 5.7 percent to as low as 0.8 percent.

Utah’s job growth in life sciences of 5.7 percent between 2013 and 2021 compared with 3.2 percent for all other industries in the state.

“Utah’s life sciences and healthcare innovation (life sciences) industry was a source of economic stability from 2012 to 2021,” the brief states. “Job growth remained strong compared with other industries and states. Increasingly, life sciences companies provide a large share of Utah’s employee workforce relative to other states with significant life sciences sectors.”

The report indicates that life sciences in Utah in 2021 accounted for 38,525 jobs, part of a U.S. total of nearly 1.8 million. Utah’s highest number was in surgical and medical instrument manufacturing (8,889), followed by pharmaceutical preparation manufacturing (5,488) and medical laboratories (5,439).

The research brief also includes a breakdown along racial, ethnic and gender lines.

“As in most places in the U.S., Utah’s life sciences and other industries that highly value STEM talent do not fully match the racial, ethnic and gender diversity of the population working in the state,” it says.

From 2016 to 2020, 2.4 percent of employed Utah women were in STEM occupations, similar to the U.S. average of 2.6 percent. Meanwhile, 8.8 percent of Utah’s male workforce held STEM jobs, compared with 7.3 percent nationwide.

During that same period, an average of 4.8 percent of Utah’s racial or ethnic minority workers were in STEM occupations, similar to the U.S. average of 4.7 percent.

Utah’s averages for Asians, Hispanic or Latino, and black or African American were ahead of the U.S. figures. Utah’s averages for American Indians or Alaska natives and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders were slightly below the national averages.

Utah’s white population held 6.1 percent of STEM jobs, compared with 5.2 percent nationally.

“Nationwide, opportunities persist for broader participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) jobs, which feature prominently in the life sciences industry,” the research brief says. “Women and people in some minority racial and ethnic groups are often underrepresented in STEM jobs.”

The upcoming full report will includes measures of Utah’s life sciences activity in 2022. It also will estimate the industry’s statewide economic and fiscal impacts and address life sciences innovation at institutions of higher learning.{/mprestriction}