Pharmaceutical companies announced more job cuts in May than they did in all of 2020, according to a June 8 report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an executive outplacement firm.
The industry announced 2,131 job cuts in all of 2020, the lowest total for the industry since Challenger began tracking the industry's job cuts in 1999. In May, the industry announced 2,134 job cuts.
"Pharmaceutical companies were tasked with producing vaccines as well as testing media and therapeutics related to the pandemic. As we enter the recovery phase, pharmaceutical companies may scale back on this work and move forward with restructuring plans that took a back seat due to COVID," Andrew Challenger, senior vice president of the firm, said in a news release.
The industry did announce plans to hire 1,347 people through May this year, compared to 660 through May 2020.