[Bio Workforce Shortage] Graduates Concentrated in Clinical Practice... Sighs Over K-Bio Research Personnel Shortage

Government Also Takes Steps for Talent Development
But Progress Slows Due to Departmental Delays
Experts Say "Urgent Need to Establish Infrastructure"

(Unit: persons, %)

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] A domestic pharmaceutical company, A Pharma, faced a dilemma a few years ago after establishing a bio subsidiary. The issue was related to manpower recruitment. The company's CEO lamented, "We could not find suitable personnel in the bio field, so we ended up transferring not only the bio staff from the headquarters but also those in charge of chemical and pharmaceutical sectors, which are not primarily bio-focused, to the subsidiary."

The pharmaceutical and bio industry pointed out the biggest problem in cultivating bio-specialized personnel as a ‘skill mismatch’ phenomenon, where there are a considerable number of bio-related graduates, but a shortage of talent that companies can actually utilize. According to the Korea Health Industry Development Institute, last year, the number of graduates from domestic universities in bio-related departments at the undergraduate, master's, and doctoral levels was about 57,000, with the largest number of graduates coming from clinical health, life sciences, food nutrition, and biotechnology departments, in that order.

However, most graduates from the medical and clinical health fields, which have large-scale university output, concentrated on clinical practice jobs, and there was a lack of entry into industries such as pharmaceuticals and bio. Son Ji-ho, Executive Director of the Human Resources Development Division at the Korea Bio Association, stated, "Despite high corporate recruitment demand, the unfilled rate due to the inability to find desired personnel is 4.2% in the pharmaceutical industry and 11.9% in the medical device industry," adding, "Especially, the unfilled rate in the research sector of the pharmaceutical industry, where demand is high, is about 11%."

The government has also recognized this issue and started nurturing bio talent, but progress has been slow as efforts are being carried out sporadically across different ministries.

According to the Health Industry Development Institute, an additional 74,256 specialized personnel in new bio-health industries such as precision medicine, regenerative medicine, and medical big data will be needed by 2025 compared to 2019. In particular, the shortage of personnel in the bio production sector, which is responsible for the contract manufacturing of four global COVID-19 vaccines, is also a problem. Korea has rapidly increased its bio production capacity in a short period and emerged as a global vaccine hub, but field experts in bio process management are struggling to keep up with demand.

The industry raised its voice, calling for a significant expansion of national infrastructure for talent development to complement and support talent cultivation by universities and companies. Won Hee-mok, Chairman of the Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association, emphasized, "There is great demand for new bio industries, but domestically, there is a severe shortage of educational institutions and faculty capable of properly teaching these skills," adding, "The government has decided to benchmark Ireland’s NIBRT education system, which provides advanced training, to cultivate a total of 4,000 personnel in 2024 and 2025, but to prepare for the rapidly increasing long-term demand for talent, budget and support must be further increased."