Bringing the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals back to the United States will result in better products, more jobs, and less dependency on foreign countries. The market size of the pharmaceutical business in 2023 was 602 billion US dollars and expected to grow to over 1,000 billion by 2033. This growth will open a wide range of jobs for the US labor pool. With the multiple facets of R & D, manufacturing, distribution, and administration, it is time to reinvest time and energy to bring the best US talent to the world market.

The drugs manufactured by the pharmaceutical companies aim to diagnose, cure, treat, and or prevent diseases. According to Drugdiscoverytreads.com, Merck & Co is the top pharma company with approximately $64 billion in FY2024 revenue. Corporate offices are located in Rahway, NJ, Merck employs close to 75,000 people worldwide. In 2024, Merck spent $17 billion in R & D expenses alone. Pfizer maintains a close second place with $63 billion in FY2024 revenue. Pfizer global headquarters are in New York, NY., while manufacturing drugs across the US including Michigan, Kansas, and North Carolina. An average Pfizer employee earns around $120,000 annually. Entry level jobs in manufacturing start as low as $16.94 per hour. Rounding out the top five pharmaceutical companies include Johnson and Johnson, also located in NJ, with approximately $57 billion in revenue, AbbVie, located in North Chicago, IL, with $56 billion in revenue, and AstraZeneca with revenues of $54 billion with US headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware. Posted by IndustrySelect on February 6, 2025, there were 1,296 pharmaceutical manufacturers in the US, with approximately 220,769 employees. This number is likely to grow as more incentives are being made to bring manufacturing of pharmaceuticals back to the US. As of July 2025, the average annual salary of employees working at US pharmaceutical companies is a little over $96,000 ranging from $85.000 to $109,000 or $46.00 per hour.

Employee job titles of large healthcare and pharma companies cover a wide range from traditional drug manufacturing, biotech innovation, clinical services, to retail pharmacy sales representatives and more. Each of these jobs offers room for recruiters to expand and grow their business. 

· Regulatory Affairs Specialist – ensures pharmaceutical products meet government requirements.

· Quality Control Analyst – verify products meet quality and safety standards.

· Biostatistician – design and analyze clinical trials.

· Process Development Scientist - design and scale manufacturing processes for pharmaceutical products.

· Manufacturing Technician – operates equipment for medication production.

· Medical Writer – creates content that gives scientific information to various audiences.

With the increasing emphasis on applying AI in the workplace, we are likely to see a change in some roles such as data entry and processing, early drug screening and discovery focusing on research, routine aspects of monitoring data collection, and quality checks of the production processes. Jobs that will evolve and remain are clinical research interpreting outputs and validating findings, marketing and building client relationships and brand importance, and human oversight for managing risks, making strategic decisions, and adapting to new emergencies. With the new push to return pharmaceutical responsibilities back to the US, it could open up an opportunity to expand into a new market.

Among the pharmaceutical companies announcing new investment in US-based manufacturing there are some big players:

· Eli Lilly - $27 billion investment in four new production facilities across the US

· AstraZeneca - $50 billion investment in expansion of existing manufacturing plant capacity in various states

· Biogen - $2 billion investment in existing plant capacity in North Carolina

· Merck - $9 billion investment in domestic operations in various states  

I hope this article increases the recruiter’s potential opportunities to make future placements in the expanding Pharma industry. Be ready to offer your services to companies that are supporting the research, manufacturing and distribution of pharmaceutical products and organizations that can make the right introductions to potential clients.

If you found this article helpful and interesting and would like to discuss any of these ideas, please feel free to give me a call or contact me at judy@jcsrllc.com, or visit my new website at https://www.jcsrllc.com for more information.