Feds Help Some Unemployed Pharma Folks In NJ
6 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // September 24th, 2010 // 7:37 am
The nation’s medicine chest may be the moniker for the Garden State, but it’s no secret the pharmaceutical industry in New Jersey is shedding a tremendous number of jobs. And with ballooning deficits making it difficult for the state to offer any help, the cupboard is starting to look bare (see here). So the US Department of Labor is stepping in with a $3.6 million grant designed to assist 960 laid off workers.
The grant will be administered by the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, which wants to use the funds to leverage the out-of-work pharma talent to “create a world-class bioscience cluster” and keep those folks from moving elsewhere. As part of the plan, the state will provide workers with access to ‘dislocated worker services,’ such as skills assessment, basic skills training, individual career counseling and occupational skills training.
Just the same, the move underscores a harsh possibility once evoked by Bruce Springsteen: ‘These jobs are going, boy, and they ain’t coming back.’ And a statement by US Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis acknowledges the problem. “Today’s grant will give these workers the opportunity to find new jobs in expanding sectors of the state’s economy,” she says. “These are hard-working and highly talented individuals, and we want to do everything possible to help guide and prepare them for other employment opportunities that may be available locally.”
But how did the US Labor Department come up with 960? Well, between last November and February, layoff notices were filed with the state by four of six drugmakers covered under the grant, and subsequent job cuts took place between January and June. To be specific, Medarex, which last year was bought by Bristol-Myers Squibb, shed 158 jobs; Merck eliminated 500 positions; Pfizer axed 400 slots and Roche slashed another 500, according to the filings. Of course, this adds up to more than 960 jobs, but not everyone can get a break.
Other drugmakers recently trimmed jobs in the state, including Sanofi-Aventis and Eli Lilly’s ImClone Systems, although notices were not filed with the state. At the same time, a US Labor Department spokesman says that job cuts undertaken by Johnson & Johnson and Amicus Therapeutics were counted for the purposes of the grant, although notices were not filed by either company. We will update you with any explanation.
There is something of a catch, though. Of the $3.6 million, only $1.1 million will be released initially. The rest of the funds become available as the state “demonstrates a continued need for assistance.” It is possible any unused funds would be thrown back into the grant pool, but we asked the US Labor Department to explain the requirement in greater detail and will update you accordingly. Although given the pharma cutbacks - Bristol-Myers will soon shed 3 percent of its workforce - it is difficult to understand how the state has not already demonstrated a continued need for assistance.
industry insider
Recent studies have shown that even re-trained, highly skilled workers are having trouble finding jobs even in related fields. A PhD chemist friend of mine from Lilly, recently laid off tells me that he can’t get a HS chemistry teaching job because they have been filled up by ex Lilly chemists. There is huge overcapacity of both physical and human capital in pharma right now. Not sure where these people are going to go, even in available industries.
For example, radiation, dental, and pharmacy techician jobs have openings. Are the Vo-Tech schools with these programs going to accept a 50 YO + laid off pharma worker when it has a pool of young people to go to? Does that 50+ YO ex parma worker have the energy and drive, as well as financial reserve to go back to school full time? The link below paints a grim reality for many 50+ YO displaced workers.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/For-the-Unemployed-Over-50-nytimes-3462694771.html?x=0&.v=1
Tom McCollum
Wow, What complete window dressing! How does anyone believe that $3.6 million dollars is going to help 960 people? That’s only $3750 per person.
Looks to me that the State didn’t get meaningful help, only help that is designed to make the Federal Government look good.
Essentially, the US Department of Labor used the money to purchase goodwill for themselves.
JaT
I don’t usually say anything related to politics here, as party usually seems fairly insignificant in the approval process or in manufacturing, and because lobbyists play both sides pretty equally.
In this case though - Chris Christie appointed (I believe) two pharmaceutical beurocrats to his administration when he won the governorship of NJ.
No idea if that’s where the rub is but it seemed worth noting.
industry insider
I never particularly liked the term for NJ as “America’s Medicine Chest”. It’s an even more disingenuous term now that the state has and will continue to hemorrhage massive numbers of pharma jobs.
pharmavet
It’s one thing to use tax dollars to retrain educated folks like chemists, engineers and outcomes experts. It’s entirely another if a single tax dime of mine is used to re-train barbie doll and gel head reps. Reps never added any value and they don’t deserve to be retrained. Let them wither.
The real pharmavet
global economist
I believe that we are seeing the full flowering of what Karl Marx referred to as the “Reserve Army of the Unemployed”. As pointed out in the link by Andrew Glyn, investment in labor saving capital over the past 30 years has permanently limited demand for labor. This will result in a structural unemployment rate in the US of 10% or more for the forseeable future, which has been the rule rather the exception in Post-War Europe for the past 60 years.