In Q1 2025, we saw robust growth across key global regions within the Pharmaceutical and Life Science market.
This growth included North America leading in biotech innovation, Europe expanding in regulatory and clinical operations talent, and APAC emerging as a major hub for manufacturing, R&D outsourcing, and digital health advancements.
The below map breaks down the number of professionals working in the industry, with the top 5 locations in each global region included:
To further break down this assessment of talent pools and hiring trends, we have used data from LinkedIn Talent Insights (based on the past 12 months) to provide a comprehensive analysis of the global market.
North America
- 4,722,150 professionals on LinkedIn within this talent pool
- 489,222 changed companies in the past 12 months
- 76,025 full-time open job posts advertised
Data based on job postings and professionals based in this region indicates that hiring demand is very high – meaning this talent pool in North America is very hard to hire. The inferred gender diversity is an almost even split (49% female and 51% male) and data also shows that professionals in this region are most likely to switch jobs after 2.1 years at their current company.
Top locations for talent in this region are New York City Metropolitan Area (365,602), Greater Boston (206,076), Los Angeles Metropolitan Area (200,369), San Francisco Bay Area (182,864) and Greater Philadelphia (152,645). We can also see 3 ‘hidden gem’ locations where the supply of professionals is high relative to hiring demand – Mexico City Metropolitan Area (150,811), Greater Toronto Area (85,736) and Atlanta Metropolitan Area (81,752).
The top schools producing this talent are:
- Penn State University – 24,574 professionals
- University of Phoenix – 21,022 professionals
- Rutgers University – 20,869 professionals
- Purdue University – 19,606 professionals
- Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México – 18,983 professionals
Europe
- 3,912,042 professionals on LinkedIn within this talent pool
- 472,523 changed companies in the past 12 months
- 52,656 full-time open job posts advertised
Data based on job postings and professionals based in this region indicates that hiring demand is very high – meaning this talent pool in Europe is very hard to hire. The inferred gender diversity is an even split (50% female and 50% male) and data also shows that professionals in this region are most likely to switch jobs after 1.8 years at their current company.
Top locations for talent in this region are Greater Paris Metropolitan Region (172,359), London Area (122,107), Ireland (97,269), Greater Madrid Metropolitan Area (85,662) and Copenhagen Metropolitan Area (83,688). We can also see 3 ‘hidden gem’ locations where the supply of professionals is high relative to hiring demand – Greater Madrid, Copenhagen and Greater Milan Metropolitan Area (81,198).
The top schools producing this talent are:
- Universitat de Barcelona – 20,250 professionals
- Københavns Universitet, University of Copenhagen – 20,232 professionals
- Università degli Studi di Milano – 17,338 professionals
- Universidad Complutense de Madrid – 17,110 professionals
- DTU, Technical University of Denmark – 13,510 professionals
APAC
- 5,067,006 professionals on LinkedIn within this talent pool
- 512,271 changed companies in the past 12 months
- 67,054 full-time open job posts advertised
Data based on job postings and professionals based in this region indicates that hiring demand is moderate – meaning this talent pool in APAC is moderately easy to hire. The inferred gender diversity leans towards male professionals (32% female and 68% male) and data also shows that professionals in this region are most likely to switch jobs after 1.6 years at their current company.
Top locations for talent in this region are Mumbai Metropolitan Region (244,850), Pakistan (212,212), Greater Delhi Area (179,720), Greater Hyderabad Area (172,330) and Guangdong, China (154,167). We can also see 3 ‘hidden gem’ locations where the supply of professionals is high relative to hiring demand – Pakistan, Delhi and Guangdong.
The top schools producing this talent are:
- University of Mumbai – 23,732 professionals
- Savitribai Phule Pune University – 21,130 professionals
- Delhi University – 12,261 professionals
- Karachi University – 10,357 professionals
- National University of Singapore – 10,157 professionals
Latin America
- 2,598,278 professionals on LinkedIn within this talent pool
- 322,155 changed companies in the past 12 months
- 12,344 full-time open job posts advertised
Data based on job postings and professionals based in this region indicates that hiring demand is low – meaning this talent pool in Latin America is easy to hire. The inferred gender diversity is a relatively even split (52% female and 48% male) and data also shows that professionals in this region are most likely to switch jobs after 1.8 years at their current company.
Top locations for talent in this region are Colombia (237,023), Greater São Paulo Area (228,205), Mexico City Metropolitan Area (150,811), Greater Buenos Aires (130,616) and Chile (106,751). We can also see 3 ‘hidden gem’ locations where the supply of professionals is high relative to hiring demand – Colombia, Chile and Peru (92,257).
The top schools producing this talent are:
- University of Buenos Aires – 27,384 professionals
- FGV, Fundação Getulio Vargas – 26,961 professionals
- Universidade Paulista – 23,595 professionals
- Estácio – 22,866 professionals
- Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México – 18,688 professionals
Middle East & Africa
- 1,554,114 professionals on LinkedIn within this talent pool
- 176,608 changed companies in the past 12 months
- 2,999 full-time open job posts advertised
Data based on job postings and professionals based in this region indicates that hiring demand is low – meaning this talent pool in the Middle East and Africa is easy to hire. The inferred gender diversity sways towards males (35% female and 65% male) and data also shows that professionals in this region are most likely to switch jobs after 1.5 years at their current company.
Top locations for talent in this region are Egypt (216,345), Saudi Arabia (140,226), United Arab Emirates (96,925), Iran (90,572) and Nigeria (86,041). We can also see 3 ‘hidden gem’ locations where the supply of professionals is high relative to hiring demand – Iran, Nigeria and Algeria (56,852).
The top schools producing this talent are:
- Anadolu University – 22,051 professionals
- Cairo University – 14,805 professionals
- Ain Shams University – 11,192 professionals
- Istanbul University – 10,666 professionals
- Alexandria University – 10,487 professionals