Spanish biotechnology offers salaries that exceed the national average. The employers of the sector, AseBio, has presented a report on the remuneration of the biotechnology sector in Spain through a survey of the main companies in the sector, which have provided data on their salary policy. It reflects that the average salary exceeds 60,000 euros, although there are differences both by branch of activity and by the location of the company, in addition to the normal between positions of responsibility.
“Our companies have managed to value their strategic potential for the economy and their ability to create new knowledge-intensive jobs. In addition, it is a sector in which entrepreneurship is promoted, and with it the creation of new innovative companies that they generate employability with high added value, which is why they contribute directly to the growth and industrialization of our country”, highlights Elena Rivas, third vice-president of AseBio and leader of the association’s Associative Fabric and Talent Commission.
The study of remuneration of the Spanish biotechnology sector shows that in the ranking of positions according to salary remuneration, the CEO (or general manager) is in the first position, followed by the CMO (or medical director) and the commercial management. However, the case of the CEO varies greatly depending on the size of the company, according to the study.
By branch of activity, companies dedicated to health are the ones that offer the best remuneration, followed by those classified as an industrial sector. For their part, agri-food or technology companies have a lower total average salary. In addition, the larger the size of the company, the better salaries are offered to workers.
By autonomous communities, Barcelona leads the ranking as the province with the highest average remuneration in biotech companies and Madrid follows with some distance. In the other part of the ranking, Cantabria offers the lowest salaries, closely followed by Badajoz, Asturias and Vizcaya.
Another of the categories analyzed is equality between men and women. The areas with the highest female representation are found in the medical and financial areas, and even in all areas it is above 63%. The opposite side is found in the general direction since it is in this area where women still do not reach the previous levels. Only 34.41% of general management positions are held by women.
From AseBio, they have prepared this study of remunerations aware of the problems that exist in the biotechnology sector for not having a regulatory agreement and, therefore, a source of information to go to. “Now we have a specific study of the biotechnology sector. We believe that it will be a fundamental tool for our companies and will help them to attract and retain the talent they need to continue growing”, concludes Ion Arocena, CEO of AseBio.
Pharmaceuticals on the rise
The health sector, in its branch of the pharmaceutical industry, has also presented some numbers that reinforce the idea that betting on these companies in the recovery from the pandemic will strengthen employment. The number of workers in the innovative pharmaceutical industry reaches 44,068 employed, after registering an average annual growth of more than 2% during the last four years (2017-2021). In fact, in 2021 alone, the innovative pharmaceutical industry hired 5,756 people. “This means that the sector today employs more than 210,000 people in Spain if indirect and induced jobs are added. Each direct job in the pharmaceutical industry generates up to four indirect or induced jobs,” emphasizes the Farmaindustria employers’ association.
Beyond the number, employment in the pharmaceutical industry is characterized by stability. 93.4% of contracts are indefinite and only 1% of permanent employment works part time, when the national average is 18.1%. High qualification is another of the hallmarks, with 64.4% of qualified professionals. This indicator has been growing every year, and three out of four people hired by pharmaceutical companies in 2021 had a higher degree (in the rest of the national economy it was only 10%).
It is also a diverse job, since, as the survey reflects, the greatest growth is concentrated in the youngest group (54 years old), with an average annual growth of 8.4%, which are the groups with the highest rates unemployment in our economy. Contracts of people under 30 years of age are those that have experienced the greatest growth in recent years: only last year one in three contracts (36.9%) were signed by young people.
Equality is the other great value inherent in employment in this sector: more than 53% of the people who work in the innovative pharmaceutical industry are women (the national average is 26%), a percentage that rises to 67% in R&D departments.
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