Drug Manufacturers

The drug manufacturing industry hires large numbers of medical scientists, chemists and technicians, as well as people in fields such as finance, law, marketing, sales and communications. People who work for drug manufacturers tend to be very educated. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) says that more than 60 percent of employees in pharmaceutical and medical manufacturing have bachelor's, master's, professional or Ph.D. degrees. In comparison, for all industries combined about 30 percent of workers hold advanced degrees.

Generally, people view the healthcare industry as recession-proof, but the current economic downturn could hit pharmaceutical companies. According to an October 2008 article in The New York Times, some consumers are cutting back on prescription drugs due to the recession. Even sales of generic drugs have slowed down. In December 2008 market intelligence firm IMS Health reported that sales growth of generics during the 12-month period that ended in September 2008 slowed to 3.6 percent from 11.4 percent in 2007. In the long run, however, things look good for drug manufacturers. The BLS expects the number of jobs in pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing to grow by 24 percent between 2006 and 2016.