PHARMA NEWS 12-07
This year’s pharma ranking has a few interesting surprises (the first of which is that Pfizer is no longer the absolute leader in sales). Pfizer has been surpassed by Johnson & Johnson. It is further expected that Pfizer will further drop in the rankings as the worldwide impact of its largest drugs become generic due to patent expiration. To be fair, the sales represented below are not just pharma (drug) sales. They also include other health care-related products such as diagnostics, medical devices, and nutritional products. It’s not quite an apples-to-apples comparison. Nevertheless, it is a fascinating guide for us into the ups and downs of these companies. Almost all the companies have grown by aggressive multiple-company acquisitions with perhaps the exception being Takeda. It has relied for the most part on internal growth (though it has become aggressive in product licensing in recent years). Here are some salient facts:
1. There are five U.S. companies in the top 10 companies and 12 U.S. companies within the top 25 companies with the Midwest having three of those companies (Abbott, Lilly and Baxter).
2. There are eight European companies within the top 25 companies.
3. There are now four Japanese companies in the top 25 companies (but none yet in the top 10 companies). Interestingly, the U.S. headquarters of two of these Japanese companies (Takeda and Astellas) is in the Midwest.
4. There is one Israeli company (TEVA) in the top 25 companies (which not so coincidentally has the highest growth rate of any of the companies at 58 percent).
5. There are two biotech companies in the top 25 companies: Amgen and Genentech (Roche owns a significant chunk of Genentech). The year 2006 saw a number of mergers including:
Bayer acquired Schering AG · Merck acquired Serono · UCB ( Belgium ) acquired Schwarz Pharma ( Germany ) · Nycomed acquired Altana · Novartis acquired Chiron and increased its share position in Roche · Amgen acquired of Ilypsa, Alantos Pharmaceuticals, and Avidia · Gilead acquired Myogen · AstraZeneca acquired Immunex · Genentech acquired Tanox · Genzyme acquired of Bioenvision and Anormed · Watson Pharmaceuticals acquired Andrx and Sekhsaria Chemicals ( India ) · Mylan Labs acquired Merck’s generic business Matrix Labs ( India )
Though a number of American companies bought into the fast-growing Indian pharma market via local acquisitions, the large Indian pharma companies themselves were active in expanding presence in both the U.S. and Europe . Continuing this trend, just last week the Indian pharma company Wockhardt acquired the pediatric generic pharma company Morton Grove Pharmaceuticals in Chicago for less than $100 million. What drives all this activity is the worldwide pharma market, which had sales of $604.5 billion in 2006 and grew about 8 percent. The slowdown in the Japanese market has to do with the Japanese government’s concern about the rising cost of health care. This includes its moves to cap the growth and cost of pharmaceuticals by its continued policy of biannual, across-the-board price cuts along with its newer policy of allowing for generic drugs to play a central role for the first time. As a result of this, there will continue to be further consolidation of Japanese pharma. Just one example is the recent acquisition of Kyowa Hakko Kogyo in 2007 by Kirin Brewery. The Asia Pacific market growth is principally being driven by the growth of both India and China . The Canadian market growth is in part due to the strong revaluation of the Canadian currency to the U.S. dollar along with the growth of the Canadian biotech industry. The Latin American market reflects the growth of both the Brazilian and Mexican markets. Another recent article by pharma market research giant IMS Health predicts a number of things about the world pharma market:
1. Overall market growth will begin to further slow from the 8 percent seen this year to 6 percent to 7 percent next year and 5 percent to 6 percent in 2008.
2. This growth slowdown most impacts the U.S. and Europe where $20 billion a year of annual drug sales will disappear due to patent expiration of blockbuster drugs. Pfizer will be particularly affected.
3. As a result, the overall U.S. share of the world pharma market will most likely drop its share to under 40 percent and eventually even 33 percent of the world market.
4. Though 29 new drugs are expected to be approved and launched next year, most of these drugs will not be blockbusters. As they are for less common diseases, they are not replacing the lost sales of blockbuster patent expirations.
5. The growth of the generic pharma business (representing about 60 percent of the actual volume of drug sales and prescriptions) will continue. Pharma R&D: The Lifeline As an industry that has traditionally invested heavily in R&D (in great part due to the long time and high cost it takes to develop and bring a new drug to the marketplace), this year’s ranking of pharma R&D expense and investment is an important indicator of the industry.
2007: THE BEST AND WORST OF TIMES FOR BIG PHARMAWe have all watched with certain incredulity and excruciating pain the demise of the U.S. auto industry, an industry which brought forward a new disruptive technology which revolutionized transportation throughout the world beginning in the early 20th century. In the early years of this industry there were many U.S. car brands and car companies that over the decades gradually were amalgamated into increasingly larger companies, or fell into oblivion.
Today, the U.S. car industry is in survival mode, shedding employees, plants, management, and brands. How it will survive remains yet to be seen, but radical restructuring will be required to lower its cost structure and globalize its business. It cannot continue to focus principally on the large U.S. market and U.S. consumer tastes (which are also globalizing).
Some of the European car competition made it in the U.S. market and others failed. Brands and companies such as Mercedes, BMW, Saab (now U.S.-owned), Volvocars.com (now U.S. owned), Jaguar (still U.S. owned at this writing) made it, while brands such Alfa Romeo, Renault, Fiat, Citroen struggled and eventually retreated from the U.S.
The Japanese car onslaught started at the low end of the market with three major brands, Toyota, Datsun (now Nissan), and Honda. These brands struggled in the U.S. and other world markets in the early days as quality was questionable (but the price was right). Over time, and amassing market share, these three companies, followed by other Japanese companies such as Subaru, Suzuki, Mitsubishi, etc., kept their tight hand on the small, inexpensive car segment of the market and improved on quality with larger cars.
In essence, the Japanese represented the “generics” of this industry with stripped down benefits and low price. But over time, they moved up to compete in the more expensive, higher margin part of the car business with more expensive, and higher quality cars, until the point where Toyota is competing worldwide with General Motors for dominance of this industry.
The car The Korean car companies followed the Japanese “generic car” strategy in the 1990s with low end cheap cars which enabled them to snare a key component of the marketplace and build market share. It helped to offer a 10 year product guarantee, an industry first, as a marketing ploy. Now the Korean car companies are firmly entrenched in the U.S. market and, like the Japanese moving up the quality (and pricing) stream.
The next onslaught of car companies will clearly be the Chinese and the Indians, and they may be attacking multiple segments at once: Chrysler with the Chinese company Chery on the low end, the Tata Group (if they win the bidding) with Jaguar, and another Chinese group with MG (to be produced in the U.S.).
U.S. auto industry vs. U.S. pharma industry
By now we are several paragraphs into a column that is normally about the life science industry (and occasionally rock n' roll), and you are wondering where I am going. Well, lessons learned from the car industry are extremely relevant to the U.S. and world pharmaceutical (and biotech industry) today.
In fact, the U.S. Pharma industry is older than the U.S. car industry having gotten its start in the U.S. as early as the 1870s (the Japanese Pharma company Takeda actually started in the 1700's), but really accelerated its growth during World War II when the U.S. Government asked for assistance in developing the first major antibiotic: penicillin.
Like the car industry, many well-known U.S. Pharma companies and brands have and will continue to disappear; names such as: Rorer, A.H. Robbins, G.D. Searle, Upjohn, Parke-Davis, Warner-Lambert, Lederle, Sterling-Winthrop, Richardson Merrell, Carter-Wallace, and others.
Like the car industry, U.S. Pharma is under siege by “generic” competition coming from Asia, including globalizing Japanese and Indian companies (China is still the sleeping Pharma giant-in-the-making).
The pharma industry, due to its much longer product development cycle (12-15 years versus 3-4 years in the car industry) and much higher regulation by governments around the world (the FDA and its multiple foreign counterparts), is inherently a much riskier business, and this risk is protected to some degree by intellectual property laws allowing these companies to operate like quasi-monopolies for 5-10 year period. However, when the monopoly time offered by patents ends, Big Pharma is today at full risk of rapidly losing business at a rate that would make car companies shutter.
A recent article in the Wall St. Journal (Dec. 6th) commented that between 2007 and 2012 more than 3 dozen drugs would lose patent protection wiping out $67 billion per year in annual Pharma sales during those years. The impact will be so great that the worldwide Pharma industry will actually decline in 2011 and 2012.
American Pharma companies like Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Merck, Wyeth, Schering-Plough, Abbott Labs, and Bristol-Myers Squibb, are at tremendous risk and exposure, but so are some of their European counterparts such as Sanofi-Aventis, GlaxoSmithKline, and AstraZeneca.
The Pharma industry has already announced job layoffs of at least 21,000 employees during 2007, and shedding of plants, R&D centers, offices, etc., in preparation for this huge downtick in profits and sales. And this is only the start! Pfizer is expected to shed close to 35,000 employees from its peak of almost 125,000 employees in 2003 to projected levels of around 80,000 in 2008, according to another WSJ article on December 11th. At least an additional 50,000 industry positions will be eliminated from Big Pharma over the next 10 years.
The beneficiaries of this patent expiration of major Pharma drugs will be firstly consumers in the U.S. and around the world, as costly medicines will become more affordable, and secondly, generic Pharma companies (some of which are American, an Israeli leader - Teva, and mostly Indian Pharma companies).
The first onslaught of generic drugs will focus on the traditional Pharma products, called “small molecule drugs” based on traditional chemistry. This type of product is at the core of Big Pharma's drug pipeline and will radically reshape the companies named above.
But the second, almost equally devastating onslaught will face the “large molecule” drugs invented by the biotech industry which are now reaching the end of their patent life but are still protected by the FDA's inability to come up with a regulatory process on how to approve these “biological” drugs. Companies like Amgen, Genentech, Biogen Idec, and some of the Big Pharma companies who were their marketing partners, will be severely impacted. We witnessed such impact earlier this year when Amgen announced its first-time ever employee-layoff.
These biotech giants have learned how to acquire and develop the newer large molecule drugs much quicker than Big Pharma, and already has the manufacturing and R&D infrastructure in place. Big Pharma shedding its traditional R&D and manufacturing infrastrastructure focused on chemistry and chemists.
According to the WSJ again, the Pharma industry employed 140,000 chemists in 2003 which was down to 116,000 chemists in 2006. The number of biologists (critical for the discovery and development of “biological drugs”), however, is on the rise, from 112,000 to 116,000.
Big Pharma, in its panic to replace upcoming lost sales is trying all kinds of strategies, including:
• Product acquisitions
• Company acquisitions
• Ethical to OTC switch of products by regulatory authorities
• Raising drug prices (63 percent since 2002)
Again, according to the WSJ articles, Big Pharma has spent $76 billion since 2005 to buy biotech companies. During the first 9 months of 2007, there were 49 deals totaling $28.7 billion (including the $15.6 billion acquisition of MedImmune by AstraZeneca).
Merck, in order to protect its blockbuster cholesterol-reduction drug Mevacor, has tried several times to seek FDA authorization to sell this product over-the-counter (OTC) without physician prescription. This Ethical-to-OTC Switch, while still representing a loss in sales and profits, provides a much safer and managed decline in profits and sales, and could provide a pathway for other similar drugs called statins with current annual sales of over $16 billion/year, sold by Pfizer and other companies (e.g. the drug Liptor).
Merck's goal, in addition to managing product decline, was to attract to the marketplace millions of individuals who have no health insurance or could not previously afford such therapy.
According to a recent article in the Chicago Tribune, the cost of such therapy on an OTC basis would cost at least half of what it currently costs in a prescription format ($1- 1.50/day vs. $3-4/day for other prescription therapies). Unfortunately, the FDA hasn't endorsed Merck's strategy and turned down Merck for the third time this past week by a 10-2 vote.
It will be very interesting to see Big Pharma scrambling during the next few years, on the one hand shedding assets and people, and on the other hand acquiring companies and products. It will be equally interesting to see how the U.S. car industry fares as well.
Source: Michael Rosen Published: in Wisconsin Technology Network 12/17/07
AMERICA'S BEST JOBS IN THE 15 HOTTEST MARKETS - 2007
1. Orlando, FL
2-year job-growth forecast: 6.8%
Metropolitan-area population: 2.0 million
Who is Hiring:
Hottest Jobs:
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Senior Mechanical Engineer ($80,400)
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Physician's Assistant ($76,000)
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IT Project Manager ($75,200)
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Electrical Engineer ($64,900)
Orlando once leaned heavily on Disney World and its service-sector spin-offs to prop up its economy, but today it is pulling in life sciences, digital media, and health-care companies with affordable (or subsidized) land and tax breaks. Electronic Arts; Hollywood animation firm House of Moves; and Burnham Institute, a top-rated cancer research center, are all expanding and adding jobs here. Despite the housing slump, such diversification will help Orlando crank out 72,600 new jobs this year and next.
Most of the hiring will still come from the region's tourism backbone. But Orlando will also post higher growth in professional-services jobs--everything from office managers to advertising account executives--than any other city on our list. The high-wage, white-collar category is projected to balloon by about 15 percent. The reason: Orlando's population is expected to expand by 150,000 by decade's end.
2. Las Vegas, NV
2-year job-growth forecast: 6.5%
Metropolitan-area population: 1.8 million
Who is Hiring:
Hottest Jobs:
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Construction Project Manager ($78,800)
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IT Project Manager ($74,600)
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Construction Superintendent ($71,900)
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Civil Engineer ($70,000)
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Executive Chef ($65,500)
Analysts say Las Vegas could end up topping Orlando in job growth, because it is uniquely insulated from downturns in ways that most major cities would envy. True, the region took a hit when the housing boom went bust last year--a sixth of its workforce is involved in construction and real estate.
But almost at the same time, the value of the U.S. dollar fell last winter and foreign tourists surged in, sparking restaurant openings and hotel expansions. MGM Mirage alone plans to hire 28,000 new employees by the end of the decade. Milken Institute economist Ross DeVol notes that Vegas continues to attract back-office operations from California's high-tech regions. The cost of a knowledge worker, including salary, training, and benefits, is about 20 percent lower here than it is in Los Angeles or San Francisco.
3. Raleigh, NC
2-year job-growth forecast: 5.8%
Metropolitan-area population: 1.5 million
Who is Hiring:
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Cisco
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Credit Suisse Group
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Fidelity Investments
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Network Appliance
Hottest Jobs:
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Senior Software Developer ($91,000)
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Software Project Manager ($87,300)
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Senior Network Engineer ($84,100)
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IT Project Manager ($83,300)
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Pharmaceuticals Project Manager ($82,300)
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Biotech Research Scientist ($75,300)
Raleigh-Durham remains America's top region for tech workers--and is expected to keep expanding faster than other tech hubs like Boston, San Francisco, and Seattle. Last year the metro matched the job-creation record it set in 2000 by adding 38,000 new positions. "This year is going to come in almost as high," predicts Wachovia senior economist Mark Vitner. Like Washington, Raleigh-Durham has a large public-sector base that helps protect it from economic slumps. But its economy is more diverse than Washington's, with expansion in pharmaceutical manufacturing, biotech, and financial services. Raleigh's cost advantages keep drawing more top employers. This fall Fidelity Investments will open a $100 million tech center that will add 2,000 jobs, and Silicon Valley-based Network Appliance is expanding its operations division here. "Raleigh is cheaper," Vitner says, "and has one of the most highly educated workforces in the country."
4. Charlotte, NC
2-year job-growth forecast: 5.7%
Metropolitan-area population: 1.6 million
Who is Hiring:
Hottest Jobs:
-
IT Project Manager ($83,000)
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Senior Software Developer ($82,900)
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Regional Sales Manager ($80,500)
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Senior Financial Analyst ($72,900)
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Construction Project Manager ($71,200)
Charlotte has surpassed Atlanta as the financial center of the South. The $2.1 trillion in assets that local financial services giants Bank of America and Wachovia pulled in last year made Charlotte a close second to New York City as America's financial capital. Thanks in part to its big banks, the region's total business investment--a powerful driver of jobs--nearly tripled in '06, hitting $4.1 billion and adding 12,000 jobs to Charlotte and 20,000 to the region overall.
Charlotte may soon become an important new biotechnology hub. David Murdock, a venture capitalist and the chairman of Dole Food, is building a $1.5 billion biotech complex in nearby Kannapolis that could generate more than 14,000 jobs. Scientists from the state's top universities are already trickling into the 350-acre North Carolina Research Campus, which is expected to be completed in 2011.
5. Phoenix, AZ
2-year job-growth forecast: 5.6%
Metropolitan-area population: 4.0 million
Who is Hiring:
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Arizona State University
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Banner Health
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Suburban Schools
Hottest Jobs:
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Senior Software Developer ($84,800)
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IT Project Manager ($78,600)
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Semiconductor Process Engineer ($78,000)
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Physician's Assistant ($76,200)
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Construction Project Manager ($74,000)
In each of the past three years, the Phoenix area has created about 95,000 new jobs, many of them fueled by an unprecedented construction boom. This year's number is pegged at about 60,000--a major drop-off, to be sure, but still enough in the context of the national slowdown to place Phoenix solidly in the top 10. Low income taxes and sunny weather are still attracting a steady stream of newcomers, primarily from the Northeast and Midwest; 114,000 are expected this year, continuing to stoke demand for new roads, schools, and health-care facilities. So while Phoenix's homebuilding sector will likely be down about 40 percent in 2007, employment linked to long-term infrastructure projects will stay hot. Still, Phoenix remains largely a mom-and-pop economy, with small business expected to drive most of the job expansion.
6. West Palm Beach, FL
2-year job-growth forecast: 5.4%
Metropolitan-area population: 1.3 million
Who is Hiring:
- Office Depot
- Sikorsky
- Tenet Healthcare
Hottest Jobs:
- Senior Software Developer ($86,100)
- Senior Mechanical Engineer ($81,800)
- IT Project Manager ($80,400)
- Construction Project Manager ($73,200)
- Construction Superintendent ($73,000)
The southeast coast of Florida experienced one of the biggest housing bubbles, and prices in West Palm Beach shot up even more than they did in Miami. The median price for existing homes dropped by almost 15 percent from its peak in late 2005 to the end of 2006, but the losses in construction are being matched by gains in the commercial sector. Office Depot, for instance, is constructing a new 625,000-square-foot operations center in nearby Boca Raton. "This region is not constrained like Miami," says Per Gunnar Berglund, a senior economist at Economy.com. "It's south Florida's frontier." The hiring will come mostly from business-services firms, with competition among them so intense that employers are still offering signing bonuses, flexible hours, and other perks. "There's a perennial shortage here," says Lee Fossett, who runs the local branch of Express Personnel Services, a national staffing firm.
7. Tampa, FL
2-year job-growth forecast: 5.3%
Metropolitan-area population: 2.7 million
Who is Hiring:
- James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital
- JP Morgan Chase
- Raymond James
- Verizon
Hottest Jobs:
- Senior Software Developer ($80,900)
- Senior IT Systems Engineer ($75,500)
- IT Project Manager ($75,000)
- Nurse Practitioner ($70,200)
- Construction Manager ($67,400)
Tampa has always been a magnet for big companies looking to set up operational headquarters on the cheap. Now its low business costs and steady supply of educated employees are bringing in smaller firms too. The percentage of people working in professional-services jobs here is nearly twice the national average, and that will drive much of the hiring through 2009. Verizon, financial-services heavyweight Raymond James, and a cluster of medical-device manufacturers like Medline are helping to expand the job pool. A dip in construction employment during the past year has pulled the overall growth rate back to earth, but it will be more than offset by the influx of new businesses. Tampa's growing port operations are also luring savvy importers: Ikea Tampa, a 353,000-square-foot supercenter with a 300-seat restaurant, will open in the summer of 2009, adding more than 1,000 jobs to the mix.
8. Riverside, CA
2-year job-growth forecast: 5.2%
Metropolitan-area population: 4.0 million
Who is Hiring:
- Ontario Airport subcontractors
- Tesco
- UPS
Hottest Jobs:
- Physician's Assistant ($78,800)
- Construction Project Manager ($77,600)
- Manufacturing Plant Manager ($77,200)
- Construction Superintendent ($75,800)
- Construction Estimator ($68,600)
The capital of California's "inland empire" has been especially vulnerable to the housing slump, but continued growth as a shipping and warehousing hub for Los Angeles is expected to provide sufficient relief. Economy.com's Sophia Koropeckyj expects residential building permits this year to be about half the volume of 2005. And a disproportionate number of subprime mortgage holders could mean a rash of defaults, warns Milken Institute economist Ross DeVol. But as the real estate market stabilizes, Riverside's booming logistics economy should put it back on a growth track. It's a direct result of America's record trade deficit with China: The largest pipelines for Asian goods are the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and Riverside is where those imports are processed for delivery. British grocery chain Tesco is building a distribution center in Riverside. When it opens this fall, it will employ 500 people.
9. Austin, TX
2-year job-growth forecast: 4.9%
Metropolitan-area population: 1.5 million
Who is Hiring:
- Deloitte & Touche
- Hyatt Hotels
- Samsung
- University of Texas at Austin
Hottest Jobs:
- Senior Software Engineer ($97,800)
- Senior Electronics Design Engineer ($97,500)
- Senior Software Developer ($92,700)
- Computer Hardware Engineer ($83,600)
- Semiconductor Process Engineer ($81,600)
Like other U.S. high-tech hubs, Austin was hit hard in the tech bust and was slow to start growing again. But grown it has: The region's employment level now exceeds its dotcom-era high.
Austin's rep has largely rested on its dual status as the headquarters of Dell and a place where chipmakers cluster. But more and more startups are gaining footholds here too. New patents issued to Austin firms rose by 20 percent in the past year, while venture capital investment jumped by 50 percent. At the same time, the old standbys are adding muscle to the labor market: Dell and the University of Texas, the area's largest public-sector employer, are in hiring mode, and Samsung's upcoming chip plant will ultimately create 800 new openings. Another plus: The housing market isn't suffering as much locally as in most other parts of the country.
10. Atlanta, GA
2-year job-growth forecast: 4.6%
Metropolitan-area population: 5.1 million
Who is Hiring:
- AGL Resources
- Home Depot
- Newell Rubbermaid
Hottest Jobs:
- Regional Sales Manager ($86,400)
- Senior Software Developer ($84,900)
- IT Project Manager ($83,000)
- Business Process / Management Consultant ($76,500)
- Senior Financial Analyst ($72,100)
- Construction Project Manager ($70,300)
Atlanta leads the nation in attracting the labor market's most coveted demographic: college-educated workers ages 25 to 34. Among the key reasons is that housing costs have stayed dramatically lower here than in inflated coastal markets like Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle. Katrina spillover has brought other transplants, helping to seed new jobs and businesses. Ironically, while traditional pillars like Delta Air Lines and BellSouth are starting to sag, small and medium size businesses are picking up the slack. One driver: Midtown Mile, a 14-block complex, opens its first phase next year with dozens of new hotels, shops, and offices. Another is Technology Enterprise Park, a bioscience research center. "Most of the growth is coming from small firms that hire a dozen workers," says Rajeev Dhawan, director of Georgia State University's Economic Forecasting Center.
11. Salt Lake City, UT
2-year job-growth forecast: 4.4%
Metropolitan-area population: 1.1 million
Who is Hiring:
- Convergys
- Fresenius Medical Care
- Wells Fargo
Hottest Jobs:
- Senior Software Developer ($81,600)
- Electrical Engineer ($73,800)
- IT Project Manager ($69,200)
- Financial Controller ($67,200)
- Construction Project Manager ($65,800)
Boasting one of the youngest big-city populations in the country, Salt Lake is luring more top employers with its affordable but highly educated labor pool. According to a survey by Manpower, more than half of Salt Lake businesses expect to add headcount this year, one of the highest rates among large U.S. metros.
Construction is growing 15 percent annually, and contractors are having to delay expansion projects for Wells Fargo, Zions Bank, and other companies because they can't find enough workers to keep pace. The two banks alone are expected to add 1,200 jobs. To help accommodate a state that boasts the highest birth rate in the nation, the Mormon church is investing in a $1 billion redevelopment project to add more condos and retail and office space.
12. Jacksonville, FL
2-year job-growth forecast: 4.4%
Metropolitan-area population: 1.3 million
Who is Hiring:
- Armor Holdings
- CSX
- Fidelity National Finance
- Lanstar System
- Rayonier
- Wachovia
- Winn-Dixie
Hottest Jobs:
- IT Project Manager ($79,400)
- Senior Software Developer ($77,800)
- Financial Controller ($76,800)
- Physician's Assistant ($75,900)
- Construction Project Manager ($74,600)
Where southeastern Florida suffers, Jacksonville seems to benefit. While home prices are still close to their peaks in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville benefits from affordable housing and plenty of jobs in transportation, distribution, and wholesale, luring new families to the city to work. Expanding infrastructure and defense spending add their nickels to the public purse, while financial services, back-office operations, and medical research also make their mark on the region. All this ensures a steady supply of young professionals to the city, in which the median age is 36.
13. Dallas, TX
2-year job-growth forecast: 4.2%
Metropolitan-area population: 6.0 million
Who is Hiring:
- American Airlines
- Comerica
- ExxonMobil
- Fluor
- Gamestop
- Southwest Airlines
- Texas Instruments
Hottest Jobs:
- Senior Software Developer ($88,500)
- Operations Director ($84,800)
- IT Project Manager ($84,500)
- Regional Sales Manager ($84,300)
- Financial Controller ($83,200)
Generally, the biggest cities don't see as much growth as their smaller cousins, but Dallas, a haven for both blue- and white-collar job seekers, continues to expand at a frenetic pace. "Part of this is rebuilding some of what we lost during the downturn," says Lyssa Jenkens, chief economist at the Greater Dallas Chamber. Affordable land and homes are luring companies like Gamestop to expand here, and others like Comerica to relocate. Meanwhile, oil-industry giant ExxonMobil, still enjoying the most profitable run in its history, also helps keep the Dallas job engine humming.
14. San Antonio, TX
2-year job-growth forecast: 4.2%
Metropolitan-area population: 1.9 million
Who is Hiring:
Hottest Jobs:
-
Senior Software Developer ($83,900)
-
Physician's Assistant ($78,400)
-
IT Project Manager ($76,800)
-
Human Resources Director ($75,800)
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Construction Project Manager ($66,300)
Low energy costs and a cheap but smart labor force are pulling more Fortune 500 companies here. Washington Mutual chose San Antonio for its new regional operations center, which will create 3,000 new jobs during the next five years. And Microsoft is building a $550 million data center, set to open in 2009.
Beyond that, San Antonio is evolving into a major biodefense hub. Three research labs are already headquartered here, and the city hopes to win a $450 million federal vaccine lab in 2008. In its recent $3.1 billion plan for military base closings, the Department of Defense gave San Antonio the nod to expand its military trauma facilities and defense medical research.
15. Fort Lauderdale, FL
2-year job-growth forecast: 4.1%
Metropolitan-area population: 1.8 million
Who is Hiring:
-
Citrix Systems
-
DHL Express
-
Republic Services
-
Spirit Airlines
-
Zimmerman Partners
Hottest Jobs:
-
Senior Software Developer ($84,600)
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Financial Controller ($78,600)
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IT Project Manager ($75,700)
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Human Resource Director ($73,500)
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Construction Project Manager ($72,700)
If West Palm Beach is one of south Florida's last frontiers, then Fort Lauderdale is fast turning into its settled interior. Tourism continues to be the big draw for new jobs, since home prices are sinking and the recent boom in back-office operations here has peaked as well. The office property sector continues to be strong, indicating that growth in the area's professional job market is not done yet. Nearby Port Everglades is also part of the equation, as it continues to grow in importance, attracting even more lucrative cruise ship traffic to the area.
FORBES' TEN BIG DEMAND JOBS WITH GOOD PAY
- Medical Science Liaison (Pharmaceutical)
- Account Directors (Internet Sales & Marketing)
- General Managers in premier resorts and hotels (Hospitality)
- Designer of Athletic & Active Wear (Apparel)
- Commercial Estimators (Construction)
- Commercial Project Managers (Construction)
- SQL Database Administrators (IT)
- .NET and JAVA Developers (IT)
- Staff Accountants (Accounting)
- Financial Analysts (Accounting)
FORBES' BEST 25 CITIES FOR JOBS IN 2007
- Raleigh, NC
- Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ
- Jacksonville, FL
- Orlando-Kissimmee, FL
- Washington, DC
- Salt Lake City, UT
- Honolulu, HI
- Las Vegas-Paradise, NV
- Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach, FL
- Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA
- Bethesda-Gaithersburg-Frederick, MD
- Sarasota-Bradenton-Venice, FL
- Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL
- Richmond, VA
- Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE.
- West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Boynton Beach, FL
- Little Rock-North Little Rock, AR
- Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro, TN
- Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, CA
- Tucson, AZ
- Oklahoma City, OK
- Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA
- Austin-Round Rock, TX
- Albuquerque, NM
- Sacramento, CA
To compile the rankings, five data points were weighted equally: Unemployment rate, job growth, income growth, median household income, and cost of living. We measured The largest 100 metropolitan areas were measured, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, and obtained the data from Moody's (nyse: MC - news - people ) economy.com. Growth data for 2003 through 2006 were used, which boosted the major cities a bit. Last year, New York, San Francisco and Chicago were all in the bottom 15.
TEN FASTEST GROWING JOBS
The ten occupations that are projected to see double digit growth between now and 2014 are:
| 1. NETWORK SYSTEMS AND DATA COMMUNICATIONS ANALYST |
| Job growth through 2014: 54.6%
What they do: Assemble networks from the bottom up, from data to e-mail, and voicemail systems.
Why it's hot: More companies are building networks to speed office communications and create better access to data.
|
| Pros: |
- Telecommuting is often an option
- The skills qualify for other technology work
- Many small and medium-sized businesses are adding heavily to networking groups
|
Cons:
- Jobs are very task-based, so a network problem could mean evening and weekend work
- Job tasks can change quickly with new technology
- Long hours at the computer
|
| Education: Bachelor's required; computer science, computer engineering, or information science |
| |
| Certifications: Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE), Cisco Certified Network Professional |
| (CCNP) |
| Average Salary: $60,600 |
| Professional Organizations: |
| Association of Computing Machinery (www.acm.org) |
| Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Computer Society (www.computer.org) |
| National Workforce Center for Emerging Technologies (www.nwcet.org) |
|
| 2. PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT |
| Job Growth through 2014: 49.6% |
|
| What they do: Juggle all the tasks that busy doctors don't have time to handle, taking medical histories. |
| May work independently at clinics. |
| Why it's hot: The health care industry is exploding thanks to an aging population. An increasing emphasis |
| on cost containment is also increasing the demand for physician assistants. |
Pros:
- The position is paid well for one requiring only a 2-year degree
- Employers often pick up associated insurance and licensing fees
|
Cons:
- PA's can put in long hours, particularly in surgery
- Working on call can be required
- The assigned tasks can often be mundane and boring
|
| Education: B.A. and a 2-year physician assistant program |
| Certifications: Must attend a nationally accredited education program and pass the Physician |
| Assistant National Certification Examination |
|
| Average Salary: $69,410 |
|
| Professional Organizations: |
| American Academy of Physician Assistants (www.aapa.org) |
| National Commission on Certification of Physicians Assistants (www.nccpa.net) |
|
| 3. COMPUTER SOFTWARE ENGINEER, APPLICATIONS |
| Job growth through 2014: 48.4% |
| |
| What they do: Assemble the applications that drive PCs -- both consumer software and custom - |
| developed programs for business. |
| Why it's hot: Businesses are constantly bringing in new technologies in order to stay efficient, and |
| customized software is an exploding market. |
Pros:
- Independent consulting work is a possibility
- There is intense competition between businesses for the best software developers, which creates more opportunities and higher pay
|
Cons:
- The project-oriented nature of the work can mean evening and weekend work
- Software development work is increasingly being outsourced overseas
|
| Education: B.A. with a concentration in computer science or software engineering |
|
| Average Salary: $79,930 |
|
| Professional Organizations: |
| Association of Computing Machinery |
| Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers Computer Society |
| National Workforce Center for Emerging Technologies |
|
| 4. COMPUTER SOFTWARE ENGINEER, SYSTEMS SOFTWARE |
| Job growth through 2014: 43% |
|
| What they do: Install the core operating systems that software runs on top of, and may handle |
| security. |
| Why it's hot: Businesses are adding more and more core features to their technology systems. |
Pros:
- Engineers learn a broad range of tech skills as demand changes
- Independent consulting work can provide an alternative career path
|
Cons:
- Project-oriented nature means a lot of on-site work and long hours
- Systems software engineers may have to fulfill sales and support roles as well
|
| Education: B.A. with a concentration in computer science or software engineering |
|
| Average Salary: $76,910 |
|
| Professional Organizations: |
| Association for Computing Machinery |
| Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Computer Society |
| National Workforce Center for Emerging Technologies |
|
| 5. NETWORK AND COMPUTER SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATOR |
| Job growth through 2014: 38.4% |
|
| What they do: Run the network help desk |
| Why it's hot: More and more organizations - among them nonprofits and community groups - |
| are adding networks. Increasing security needs are another big driver. |
Pros:
- This tech role doesn't require as much training as others
- Exposure to a variety of advanced computer tasks
|
Cons:
- The systems administrator doesn't get noticed until something goes wrong
- Must handle a huge variety of problems
- Depending on size of network, working on call may be required
|
| Education: Bachelor's, preferably but not necessarily computer-related |
|
| Average Salary: $40,430 |
|
| Professional Organizations |
| Association of Computer Support Specialists |
| Systems Administrators Guild |
| National Workforce Center for Emerging Technologies |
|
| 6. DATABASE ADMINISTRATOR |
| Job growth through 2014: 38.2% |
|
| What they do: Handle database setup and security to ensure that information is delivered smoothly |
| around the company's network. |
| Why it's hot: More and more information needs to be shared across computer networks, and the |
| database administrator is at the center of that process. |
Pros:
- They work closely with the company's most valuable data
- Databases use different technologies, so flexible tech skills are required
|
Cons:
- This role has expanded to include major security demand
- Unexpected problems can result in weekend work
- The administrator also needs a strong
Education: Bachelor, possibly Master in Management Information Systems (MIS)
|
|
| Average Salary: $60,650 |
|
| Professional Organizations: |
| Association of Computing Machining |
| Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Computer Society |
| National Workforce Center for Emerging Technologies |
|
| 7. PHYSICAL THERAPIST |
| Job growth through 2014: 36.6% |
|
| What they do: Guide people suffering from injuries or disease through physical treatments and |
| exercises. |
| Why it's hot: As the population ages, the number of individuals with physical limitations or |
| disabilities keeps growing. |
Pros:
- Work closely with other medical professionals
- Helping victims of accidents and ailments on their way to recovery
|
Cons:
- Occasional evening work to fit patient schedules
- The work can be physically demanding
|
| Education: B.A. and accredited physical educational program |
| Certifications: State licensing required |
|
| Average Salary: $60,180 |
| |
| Professional Organizations |
| American Physical Therapy Association |
|
| 8. MEDICAL SCIENTIST |
| Job growth through 2014: 34.1% |
|
| What they do: Conduct biomedical research. |
| Why it's hot: Though the budget increases at the National Institutes of Health that have fueled research |
| have come to a stop, there is no shortage of new biotechnology ventures. |
Pros:
- Medical scientists put in very regular hours
- They often get to work in different environments, splitting work between the lab, clinics, and hospitals
|
Cons:
- They have to follow strict safety procedures to avoid exposure to dangerous organisms or toxic substances
- Some medical scientists are heavily dependent on grant money
|
| Education: Ph.D. in biological science |
|
| Average Salary: $61,320 |
|
| Professional Organizations: |
| American Society for Microbiology |
| Infectious Diseases Society of America |
|
| 9. OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST |
| Job growth through 2014: 33.6% |
|
| What they do: Help people with mental or physical handicaps learn to perform daily tasks like bathing |
| and dressing. |
| Why it's hot: In an aging society, more people need this type of assistance. |
Pros:
- Excellent compensation
- Occupational therapists are increasingly taking on supervisory roles in medical environments
- Develop long-term relationships with patients
|
Cons:
- The work can be physically demanding, with therapists on their feet most of the day
|
| Education: Bachelor until 2007 when master will be required |
| Certifications: National certification and state licensing required |
|
| Average Salary: $54,660 |
|
| Professional Organization: |
| American Occupational Therapy Association |
|
| 10. COLLEGE INSTRUCTOR |
| Job growth through 2014: 36.7% |
|
| What they do: Teach classes across a wide range of academic and vocational topics. |
| Why it's hot: An expected increase in the number of 18 to 24 year olds will boost college enrollment. |
Pros:
- There are a wide variety of subjects to teach
- Teachers have very flexible work schedules
- They can teach part-time, for instance evenings after another job
|
Cons:
- Professors are frequently required to balance teaching and publishing (especially in research universities)
- Work can pile up at the end of the semester
|
| Education: Ph.D. required for tenure-track positions |
|
| Average Salary: $51,800 |
|
| Professional Organization: |
| Council of Graduate Schools |
|
| Source: Forbes.com; Bureau of Labor Statistics
|
7 TRENDY NEW JOBS
- Director of Mobile Computing - involving upgrading and maintaining Blackberry, Treo, laptop, and cell phone equipment.
- Director of Internal Controls - from Sarbanes-Oxley legislation whole new departments have been developed staffed with directors of internal controls, chief compliance officers, and Sarbanes-Oxley auditors, all of whom are dedicated to ensuring companies comply with the new law.
- Business Continuity Director - the September 11 attacks, major national disasters, the SARS outbreak, and the threat of a pandemic have made more companies take seriously the need for "preparedness planning." Business continuity directors are usually from a security background in information technology and law enforcement. This director is usually in charge of making contingency plans to ensure the company's workforce and infrastructure can continue to function during and after a crisis.
- Chief People Officer - experience in human resource management and working with customers and other employees combine to make this an ideal professional to spot the talent a company needs. The chief people officer is expected to implement creative methods to hire and retain qualified, ideal employees in a labor market that has begun to see a shortage of qualified workers.
- Parent Coordinator - typically a lawyer or child psychologist appointed by a court to issue binding decisions on the spot over everyday disputes, usually over the phone after the parents make their arguments. Contentious custody battles in divorce are not new, but how they are handled is changing. Relatively small issues can take as much time and money to resolve in court as the more serious issues, so the judge and the parents can elect to delegate them to a parent coordinator.
- Residence Concierge - the latest trend in luxury travel is the luxury residence club, and one of the biggest players in the field is exclusive resorts. Travelers can join the club and gain access to 300 multimillion-dollar luxury vacation homes around the world. Membership includes the 24 / 7 services of a residence concierge. Far more than a hotel concierge, the residence concierge arranges for everything from stocking the refrigerator, managing the household staff, arranging for transportation, and setting up customized events for guests and their families.
- Blogging Editor - blogs are proliferating all over the web and the success of influential blogs like Wonkette,com has companies wanting in on the perceived edginess of the blogosphere. Blogging is starting to creep into job descriptions and recruiters are starting to see blog-related job listings - "to manage and moderate blogs for clients and to write for the company blog on PR and new media topics."
10 STRATEGIES FOR CONTROLLING STRESS AT WORK
1. Start with your next thought
Viktor Frankl's concentration camp experience, described in his 1959 masterpiece, Man's Search for Meaning, shows that no matter how desperate our circumstances, we choose our attitude toward it. We shape this attitude with each thought. Thinking I am going to learn from this rather than this stinks can lead to future success.
You can choose to be happy. Dozens of studies show that after we adjust to them, external circumstances have little bearing on happiness. A ten year study by the National Institute on Aging found that people who were happy initially remained happy ten years later regardless of changes in their lives.
2. Stay in the "efforts" business
To cut stress, focus on efforts and actions you can control, rather than results, which may be out of your control.
3. Take control of your time
Dr. David G. Myers, who conducted a study on happiness involving several hundred thousand people in 16 countries revealed that one of the most common traits in happy people was personal control of their lives.
"One way to feel empowered is to master our use of time. For happy people, time is filled and planned. For unhappy people, time is unfilled, open, and uncommitted. They postpone things and are inefficient."
Set deadlines to focus yourself, meet them, and you will achieve a confident feeling of personal control.
Make lists and use them to structure your day. Take control in small ways, prioritizing, straightening your desk, cleaning out folders, and getting rid of clutter.
4. Be positive and accept your mistakes
Maintain a positive perspective and believe things will work out, even if it seems they won't. Adopting this perspective reduces stress.
Realize that failures are but successes in process. Mistakes are a byproduct of rapid growth. Because they attempt more, successful people may fail more often than others. But failure can be your best teacher. Berating yourself when you stumble only adds to your stress.
5. Tap the power of intention
Stress can magnify obstacles, but when you believe deep down that you will overcome them, they will diminish. Focusing on positive aspects of your life helps. Concentrating on the things you enjoy is more productive than worrying about aspects of your work.
Problems and accompanying stress diminish when you focus at a deep inner level on new goals.
You can also try on new roles and start making your life the way you want it to be. It may feel awkward at first, but soon these new roles will fit. You will be better able to meet challenges and add to your joys and freedoms.
6. Exchange worries for warm thoughts
Worry is focusing on negative goals or what you do not want to happen. When you worry, you build negative mental images that can create feelings of tension and irritability. If you do not worry, you will not allow problems to interfere with your performance.
Dwelling on impediments can make them seem worse than they are. Putting them aside can reduce their significance. Do not focus on problems as you go to sleep, Instead, make a habit of thinking good thoughts.
7. Embrace humor and pleasure
Humor is a mark of psychological health, and researchers believe we can laugh ourselves well. Studies suggest humor can relieve tension, headaches, backaches, boredom, and depression by increasing production of endorphins, the body's natural painkillers.
8. Use recovery
If you are facing serious stress, get appropriate help. Find a coach and support network, or join a free or low-cost recovery group that can help you manage stress.
9. Maintain physical health and enjoy the benefits of nature
Walking, jogging, or other exercise releases stress. Being outdoors and appreciating nature can be incredibly refreshing. Being in good physical condition will help you fight the damaging effects of stress.
10. Find your 'why' to live for
In the book "Flow," author Mihaly Czikszentmihalyo claims that the least stressed people are ones who work all out on a project they have selected. They give themselves to it with precision and grace.
A researcher at the University of California - Davis studied 3,036 scientists throughout history and found the most respected ones produced more good and bad works than less successful scientists. They simply produced. They loved their work and took childlike delight in it.
In Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl describes how concentration camp prisoners who could not envision an end to their confinement fared worse than other prisoners. Those who found goals to live for also found the strength to live.
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