Study: Michigan’s life-science sector growing, key universities focus research dollars on field

MACKINAC ISLAND, Michigan — Michigan’s life-science industry accounts for more than 2 percent of jobs in the state — a number that’s grown significantly in recent years, according to a new report commissioned by local universities.

The report — Life Sciences Industry in Michigan and the University Research Cooridor (pdf) — largely reviews figures from 1999 to 2006. In that time, life science jobs grew more than 10 percent, which is the largest growth rate for any sector. Average life-science wages, meanwhile, grew from $64,602 in 1999 to $83,494 in 2006.

Despite that growth, the field is still small compared to other fields. The more than 79,000 life science employees make up about 1.6 percent of Michigan’s total labor force, if you take the study’s figure and contrast it with numbers from the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth.

“Other industries right now — manufacturing and the other service industries — have much more employment,” said Caroline Sallee, a consultant with the Anderson Economic Group, which prepared the study. “But when it comes to growth potential, life sciences have that.”

Overall, the study was meant to tout the benefits of the Michigan Life Sciences Corridor, a state-funded plan to spend $1 billion from 1999 to 2019 to develop new technologies in life science. The report also sought to highlight the University Research Corridor partnership that includes Michigan State University, University of Michigan and Wayne State University.

The study asserts that the three universities used 64 percent of its research spending on life science – -greater than other similar research clusters with the exception of North Carolina’s Research Triangle and the schools around San Jose’s Silicon Valley.

Sallee said the report could be used to win additional public dollars for the universities and their research efforts.