There were signs of improvement for biopharma job seekers in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to BioSpace data. Although the number of jobs listed on the BioSpace website fell by 14% compared to the previous year, there was a 10% increase from the third to fourth quarter—the only such rise in 2025. Science/research and development positions grew by 14%, while clinical roles increased by 23% during this period.
The average number of live jobs on BioSpace dropped by 23% year over year but rose slightly—by 4%—from Q3 to Q4. This marked the first quarter-over-quarter increase since Q3 2024.
Layoff figures also showed some improvement. While biopharma layoffs climbed by 47.1% in 2025 compared to the previous year, reaching a total of 42,701 people, fewer employees were affected in Q4 than in the same period in 2024 (3,603 versus 6,814). The fourth quarter had the lowest number of impacted workers among all quarters last year.
A report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas covering all industries noted that announced U.S. job cuts for December stood at 35,553—a decrease of 8% from the previous year and the lowest monthly figure since July 2024.
Other developments contributed to optimism within biopharma. In October, Massachusetts awarded $17.3 million in tax incentives expected to help create more than 800 life sciences jobs by the end of 2025. Medtronic received $4.85 million to add over two hundred positions in Billerica.
The S&P 500 Biotech Index rallied during the second half of last year, drawing attention from industry analysts. Mizuho Securities stated at year's end: “Biotech is making money again,” while Truist Securities anticipated continued growth into this year.
Aktis Oncology announced plans for an initial public offering as the first biotech IPO of 2026 with expectations to raise approximately $318 million.
However, broader employment trends raised concerns outside biopharma. According to recent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports, only about fifty thousand new jobs were added nationwide in December—below forecasts—and job openings reached a fourteen-month low at seven point one million in November. Unemployment edged down slightly from November to December but long-term unemployment made up a larger share compared with both prior months and December two years ago.
Wells Fargo economists commented on these trends: “The cooling in the labor market still appears to be proceeding, but at a gradual and orderly pace.”
Early developments in January suggested ongoing strength for biopharma hiring plans:
- Veradermics and Eikon Therapeutics announced upcoming IPOs.
- Johnson & Johnson revealed plans for five hundred new jobs at a drug manufacturing facility near Raleigh, North Carolina.
- AbbVie committed $100 billion toward research and development and capital investments over ten years; this commitment helped secure exemptions from tariffs and future price mandates for AbbVie.
Regarding layoffs moving forward into this year, industry experts offered cautious optimism about stability or modest growth ahead. Audrey Greenberg said broad-based increases are less likely; Eric Celidonio predicted layoffs would level off and projected slight headcount increases due to fiscal discipline and expansion areas such as data science and artificial intelligence.
BioSpace’s layoff numbers do not include certain sectors like contract research organizations or medical device firms; they compile their tallies based on available company disclosures or confirmations from officials.
This article was originally published as a Special Edition of Career Insider.
