Updated March 07, 2014.
I've published several articles, roughly 16, for people conducting a job search in the life sciences sector in the United States. Here at About Medical Supplies you'll find information about established bio tech clusters, like Boston, San Diego, San Francisco, and Raleigh-Durham, and emerging bio medical clusters like Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Cleveland, and Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Since many of our readers live in other countries throughout the world, I owe it to them to provide what research I can about the medical device and biotech job markets where they live.
Life Sciences Jobs In Brazil
Brazil has been one of the fastest-growing job markets since the 1990's. Even more recently, some of that growth has been driven by improvements to the country's health care delivery system, the growing industrial strength of its generic pharmaceutical manufacturing companies, and the research being done in Brazil in the agribusiness and biofuel sectors.
Some of the largest companies in the world have either opened new facilities in Brazil, or have bought smaller local players. In some cases, multinational corporations have done both.
Brazil now has the seventh largest pharmaceutical economy in the world, and is expected to grow at a rate above 10 percent for the foreseeable future.
The country's modernizing health care delivery system, and the growth of its middle class, both in size and influence, has been reshaping the needs of Brazil's citizens.
For example, better health care delivery has improved population health, and also changed its appearance. The growing middle class in Brazil now suffers from the same diseases that the more historically affluent nations do, such as hypertension, heart disease, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, cancer, and depression, to name a few.
These types of diseases have created a demand for the same types of treatments that people in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. have been using for several decades now. An increasing demand for the latest medications has drawn attention to Brazil's massive economic potential, and thus steered the world's largest pharmaceutical research and development companies to the country.
One of the government's tactics to keep medication costs lower for its citizens is to reduce its dependence on drug imports. That means more drug development jobs in Brazil.
Major Life Sciences Employers in Brazil
- Pfizer
- Sanofi
- Amgen
- Brazil has over 230 national life sciences companies
- These small, national life sciences companies were started and have grown the same way as their American counterparts -- in incubators and other types of shared research lab space
- 85% of these national companies have fewer than 50 employees, but they are among the highest educated people in the country: Â 40% are PhDs and 20% have their Masters of Science degree
- 40% of the jobs are in Sao Paulo
- 25% of the jobs are in Minas Gerais
- 13% of the jobs are in Rio de Janeiro
- University research in these three states factor in heavily on the development of technological innovation
Interesting Statistics for Brazil from the World Bank
- Brazil has 1.4 researchers in science, per thousand total employment
- The percentage of graduate students in science, engineering, manufacturing, and construction, as a percentage of total graduate students in the country, is 12.2%
- Brazil's gross expenditure on research and development is 1.2% of its Gross Domestic Product
- Brazil's residents have initiated over 2,700Â patent applications
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While there may be some cultural differences between job search strategies in different countries, I would bet that there are some shared fundamental similarities.  You can find broader job-search help in the following resources provided by About.com's Job Search Expert, Alison Doyle: