Category: Hiring/layoffs
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Pfizer to Build Research Labs in Cambridge, Mass.
Pfizer Inc., the global pharmaceutical company based in New York, says it will build a new research facility in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company expects the facility will employ a staff of 400, most in research or related positions. The new building will be located in Kendall Square, just north of the MIT campus. Pfizer says…
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Insomnia Costs U.S. Employers Billions in Lost Productivity
Researchers from universities, hospitals, and companies in the U.S. and Europe calculated the lost productivity of Americans suffering from insomnia at an annual cost of $63.2 billion to employers. Their findings from the study, funded by the pharmaceutical company Merck, appear in the 1 September issue of the journal Sleep (paid subscription required). The team…
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People Without Jobs and Insurance Skip Medicine, Health Care
A report from the Commonwealth Fund in New York says the vast majority of people who lost both their jobs and health insurance in the past two years skipped needed health care or did not fill prescriptions because of the cost. The data for the study come from the Commonwealth Fund’s 2010 Biennial Health Insurance…
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Roche to Build Canadian Pharmaceutical Development Center
Roche Canada, a division of the global drug company based in Switzerland, says it will build a new pharmaceutical development center at its current site in Mississauga, Ontario near Toronto. The new center, says Roche, involves an investment of $190 million over the next five years, and will add 200 skilled staff. The new center…
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To Grow Economies with Small Businesses, Think Local
Economists at Pennsylvania State University have found that small, locally owned businesses and start-ups tend to generate higher incomes for people in a community. Stephan Goetz and graduate student David Fleming from the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development at Penn State published their findings in the August issue of the journal Economic Development Quarterly…
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Study: Start-Ups Hiring and Keeping Fewer Workers
A new study by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation indicates recent start-up businesses — like those formed by scientists to commercialize their research findings — are not generating the numbers of jobs created by earlier start-up businesses. The foundation says the trend of less hiring by start-ups pre-dates the 2007-2009 recession. The Kauffman findings show…
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Report: Research Triangle Becoming Smart-Grid R&D Cluster
A new report by Duke University’s Center for Globalization, Governance and Competitiveness (CGGC) assesses the capabilities of North Carolina, particularly the 13-county Research Triangle region, to serve as a hub for developing advanced technologies to better manage electrical power. A smart grid, as this collection of technologies is called, promises to make the outdated U.S.…
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Timken, College to Build Wind Energy R&D Center
The Timken Company in Canton, Ohio revealed plans for a new research and development center for wind turbine mechanisms used to generate electricity. The $11.8 million facility, built in collaboration with nearby Stark State College, is expected to add 65 new jobs. The R&D center will focus on wind turbine mechanisms that convert wind power…
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Study: Genomics R&D Generates $796 Billion Return to U.S.
An analysis by Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio estimates that the Human Genome Project and associated activities generated an economic return of $796 billion between 1988 and 2010, from an investment of $3.8 billion ($5.6 billion in constant dollars). In addition, Battelle calculates genomics research and development directly and indirectly resulted in personal income…
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One Nation, Under Geeks
Review: Geek Nation by Angela Saini. Hodder & Stoughton (3 Mar 2011). Science writer Angela Saini describes the rise of science and engineering in India in her new book Geek Nation. But if you’re looking for a triumphant Indian victory march you may be disappointed. The book instead offers a sophisticated and nuanced analysis of…