Few Jobs Await Graduating Biotech Students

The job making machine appears to be broken in Florida...

meanwhile most every other state in the union is killing themselves to get biotech jobs lined up...

Mar. 4--Florida Atlantic University and Indian River Community College will jointly graduate their first class of biotechnology technicians in May under a special federal grant program.

But so far, there aren't any jobs for them.

Using a $2.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor, FAU and the Workforce Alliance of Palm Beach County created a curriculum -- also adopted by IRCC -- to turn out lab techs for the biotech businesses expected to sprout as The Scripps Research Institute churns out drug research for commercialization.

But as the first 23 people complete the yearlong training and receive a certificate that says they are ready to work, the Workforce Alliance is struggling to find biotech positions for them.

An additional 17 will finish this summer or fall, and could face the same situation.

With the Palm Beach County Commission approving a site last month for Scripps Florida's headquarters at Abacoa in Jupiter and the adjacent Briger tract in Palm Beach Gardens, the hope is that biotech companies that have been on the fence will decide to move to Palm Beach, Martin or St. Lucie counties.

"Historically, when you have an anchor like Scripps, you have a huge spike in employment in four or five years," said Doug Saenz, a job developer with the Workforce Alliance. "We're confident that's going to happen."

But as is, the biotech cluster anticipated to surround Scripps hasn't started.


link to full article