US job openings in research and development are plunging as the Trump administration ramps up funding cuts to government agencies, private contractors and universities, leaving some of the nation’s brightest minds scrambling to find work.
Scientific research and development job postings are down 18% since President Donald Trump took office in January, compared to a 4% drop in overall vacancies in both the public and private sector, according to a report Thursday from the Indeed Hiring Lab. The decline was broad-based across the science sector, which also impacted data collection jobs and life sciences consulting.
Trump’s efforts to shrink the federal workforce and halt scientific research funding are a blow to jobseekers interested in government-funded jobs at top-notch institutions like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Columbia University. The funding cuts are also trickling into the private sector, with pharmaceuticals and other grant-exposed industries anticipating weaker hiring ahead.
“We’re already seeing the spillover,” said Cory Stahle, an economist at Indeed and author of the report. While science jobs constitute less than 1% of postings on Indeed’s job-search platform, “they carry an outsize effect because they have a pretty big social impact but also financial impact on other businesses.”
Anxiety began mounting after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. unveiled plans in late March to cut 10,000 employees from the department’s workforce. Many of its nearly 30 divisions — including the CDC, National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration — have already carried out sizable layoffs.
Since then, the Trump administration has also canceled billions of dollars in federal grants and contracts to universities including Columbia, Harvard and Northwestern, citing their handling of antisemitism and discrimination on campus. While schools are tapping into alternative forms of funding, some have also terminated positions impacted by the cuts.
Down the road from the CDC, where more than 2,400 jobs have been eliminated so far, Atlanta’s Emory University froze hiring and compensation adjustments given the funding cuts.
Daniele Fallin, dean of Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health, says many of the roughly 550 students graduating with master’s and doctoral degrees are exploring taking roles at state and local health agencies, consulting firms like Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. and McKinsey & Co. as well as corporate wellness departments. Historically, many have landed at CDC and other federal agencies, she said.
“They’re concerned about their job prospects, but also just the direction of the public health policy of the country right now,” Fallin said.
The staff reductions at these major institutions has thrown thousands of experienced professionals into the job market, where scientists early in their careers are now up against steep competition in addition to scant opportunities.
That’s been the experience for Ifunanya Dibiaezue, who’s conducted research on public health — including contraceptive methods in Africa — for most of her young career. Now six months after getting her doctorate at the University of California at Berkeley, she’s still looking for a job that matches her skills.
“I don’t even know what to do,” said Dibiaezue, 32, who’s working part-time in Atlanta analyzing research reports for a journal focused on infectious diseases. Her goal is to work at the CDC. “It seems like you’re competing now with people who have so much experience.”
Traffic on the American Public Health Association’s job board — which features positions in the private and public sectors — also suggests the market is more crowded. The site’s page views have doubled so far this year compared to the same period in previous years, even though postings are down.
The private sector is also showing signs of weakness. The scientific R&D industry — which is home to many pharmaceutical and biomedical jobs — cut the most positions last month in more than a year, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Because of the funding cuts, 18% of early-stage biopharma companies anticipate they will have to pause upcoming projects, and 15% may delay hiring and lay off staff, an industry survey found this month. German pharma giant Merck KGaA said last week demand for its drug research products is slowing as US policy uncertainty prompts biotech companies to put off new projects.
The outlook for academia isn’t great either, according to Anna Airoldi, an economist at workforce intelligence firm Revelio Labs. It may take a few months to see the impact of the funding cuts, “since the academic hiring cycle for tenure-track positions generally ramps up in the late summer and fall,” she said.
With assistance from Jarrell Dillard, Janet Lorin and Sonja Wind.
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