| Related Jobs |  | Biologist, Microbiologist, Biologist, Environmental Health Scientist, Scientist, Medical, Physician, Surgeon, Dentist, Biologist |
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| Job Outlook | | Employment of biological scientists is projected to grow 9 percent over the 2006-16 decade, about as fast as the average for all occupations, as biotechnological research and development continues to drive job growth. The Federal Government funds much basic research and development, including many areas of medical research that relate to biological science. Recent budget increases at the National Institutes of Health have led to large increases in Federal basic research and development expenditures, with research grants growing both in number and dollar amount. Nevertheless, the increase in expenditures has slowed substantially and is not expected to match its past growth over the 2006-16 projection period. This may result in a highly competitive environment for winning and renewing research grants.
Biological scientists enjoyed very rapid employment gains since the 1980s—reflecting, in part, the growth of biotechnology companies. Employment growth should slow somewhat, as fewer new biotechnology firms are founded and existing firms merge or are absorbed by larger biotechnology or pharmaceutical firms. Some companies may conduct a portion of their research and development in other lower-wage countries, further limiting employment growth. However, much of the basic biological research done in recent years has resulted in new knowledge, including the isolation and identification of genes. Biological scientists will be needed to take this knowledge to the next stage, which is the understanding how certain genes function within an entire organism, so that medical treatments can be developed to treat various diseases. Even pharmaceutical and other firms not solely engaged in biotechnology use biotechnology techniques extensively, spurring employment increases for biological scientists. For example, biological scientists are continuing to help farmers increase crop yields by pinpointing genes that can help crops such as wheat grow worldwide in areas that currently are hostile to the crop. Continued work on chronic diseases should also lead to growing demand for biological scientists.
Biological scientists held about 87,000 jobs in 2006. In addition, many biological scientists held biology faculty positions in colleges and universities but are not included in these numbers.
About 39 percent of all biological scientists were employed by Federal, State, and local governments. Federal biological scientists worked mainly for the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Interior, and Defense and for the National Institutes of Health. Most of the rest worked in scientific research and testing laboratories, the pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing industry, or colleges and universities. |
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| More Information | | Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, American Institute of Biological Sciences |
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| References | | Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2008-09 Edition, Biological Scientists, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos047.htm
O*NET OnLine, on the Internet at http://online.onetcenter.org/link/summary/19-1021.01 |
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