Pharmaceutical bio jobs to be reorganized

↑Production & ↓Sales

↓53% in 9 years

the total number of employees is 114,126

Sales jobs account for 33% in 9 years → 22%

Jobs in the pharmaceutical bio industry have increased by more than 50% in the past nine years.

 

The number of production workers surged.

 

In recent years, it is analyzed that many jobs have been created in production jobs as pharmaceutical bio companies have greatly increased production facilities and expanded their CMO business.

 

The proportion of sales jobs in all jobs dropped sharply.

 

According to the 2021 Pharmaceutical Bio Industry Data Book published by the KPBMA on the 10th, the total number of employees in the pharmaceutical bio industry in 2020 was 114,126, an increase of 10.9% year-on-year.

 

It increased 53.2% in nine years from 74,477 in 2011.

 

# of employees in the pharmaceutical bio-industry by year (unit: # of employee, data: the KPBMA)

Jobs in the pharmaceutical bio industry have increased every year since 2011.

 

Analysts say that the pharmaceutical bio-industry has recently shown growth and is playing a significant role in creating jobs.

 

Looking at the current status of jobs by major task, the number of production workers has increased significantly.

 

In 2020, the number of production employees was 46,166, an increase of 24.1% from the previous year.

 

It doubled in nine years from 25,539 in 2011.

 

The share of production workers in the entire pharmaceutical bio industry expanded from 31.6% in 2011 to 40.5% in 2020.

 

In 2011, sales workers accounted for the largest portion of all employees, but in 2020, the proportion of production employees exceeded 40%.

 

It is analyzed that the number of production jobs has increased significantly recently as production facilities have increased significantly and CMO businesses have expanded, especially among bio companies.

 

Founded in 2011, Samsung Biologics is currently operating three biopharmaceutical plants in Songdo, Incheon.

 

Samsung Biologics is building its fourth plant with the aim of operating it in 2023.

 

The fourth plant is the largest ever with 256,000 liters of production.

 

When the fourth plant is in operation, Samsung Biologics will secure a total of 618,000 liters of production facilities along with its third plant (3,000 liters of first plant, 152,000 liters of second plant, and 180,000 liters of third plant).

 

As of the end of 2020, the number of production workers at Samsung Biologics was 1,255, an 87.6% increase from 669 in 2016.

 

In other words, the number of production jobs has nearly doubled in four years.

 

Celltrion and SK Bioscience also saw a significant increase in the number of production workers due to the recent surge in biopharmaceutical production.

 

Samsung Biologics, Celltrion, and SK Bioscience all surpassed 100 billion won in quarterly operating profit, leading the growth of the entire pharmaceutical bio industry.

 

The proportion of sales jobs in the pharmaceutical bio industry has decreased significantly.

 

In 2020, the number of sales employees was 25,317, down 1.0% from the previous year.

 

Sales jobs were the only ones among all jobs that saw a year-on-year.

 

The number of sales employees increased only 3.2% over the past nine years from 24,535 in 2011 to 25,317 in 2020.

 

Sales accounts for more than 10% of all jobs from 32.9% in 2011 to 22.2% in 2020.

 

Although the pharmaceutical bio-industry is growing, the proportion of sales jobs is also expected to decrease as sales activities are relatively less important.

 

Analysts say that sales activities based on scientific evidence have increased significantly rather than salespeople's supply offensive.

 

Some say that the need for salespeople to visit medical institutions in person has been reduced as the proportion of non-face-to-face work such as online marketing has decreased significantly since the recent spread of COVID-19.

 

The proportion of office and research jobs did not change significantly.

 

The proportion of office workers increased by 1.5% from 19.4% in 2011 to 20.9% in 2020, while the number of research workers decreased by 0.1% from 11.8% to 11.7% during the same period.