CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Jeremy Liew, 31, moved to Boston from New Jersey in 2018 to study for a Ph.D. in chemistry and, he hoped, a career in the city’s bustling biotech industry.
But after earning his University of Massachusetts, Boston degree last year, Liew said he has applied to about 500 local jobs with no luck. Born in Hong Kong, he said he has also started considering LinkedIn messages from biotech recruiters much farther away. “The industry really is booming in China, and that’s what a lot of people have told me, that I should consider applying there,” Liew said.
Boston’s biotech sector, long a vital economic engine for one of America’s wealthiest metro areas, is sputtering. A double whammy of cutbacks in venture capital and government funding have taken a toll, leading to layoffs and struggles for job seekers.