Biotech Career: Salary Can Be a Problem
By SKORCAREER • Apr 21st, 2008 • Category: Editor's Pick •
Promising career prospect in biotechnology industry in Malaysia may be hampered by low and uncompetitive salary package.
In late 2006, the International Herald Tribune reported some trend of Malaysian researchers migrating to the neighboring country Singapore for better environment and salary package.
The report, which also gave indication that as much as 60% of Singapore’s biotechnology researchers coming from Malaysia, raised an alarming concern for the Malaysia government, which is moving towards making biotechnology a key industry.
A researcher confessed to having a much better professional life in Singapore compared to her native country Malaysia. According to her, a researcher based in Singapore can earn more than SGD3,000 per month (roughly RM8,000), which is about 5 times the salary paid in this country.
Malaysia is counting on bright, ambitious people like Tan Chye Ling for its future, to lead it away from manufacturing and into the knowledge age. But Tan, a 32-year-old scientist and a postgraduate in molecular biology, is not counting on Malaysia to look after her future.
“I felt very suppressed in Malaysia,” said Tan, who moved to Singapore, the region’s pace-setter for investment in biotechnology, after a decade of study and research in Malaysia.
“I have benefited from the better research environment and salary scheme here,” she said from the National University of Singapore, where she is studying dust mites and allergies. “Things are much smoother.”
A small salary research done today using the useful JobStreet.com Salary Report feature revealed some degree of truth. Not only is the salary of the research position science and biotechnology lower, the position level that comes with the salary is also way behind other industries. From the figures obtained, those whose specialization fall under the biotechnology field are not enjoying good salary package as compared to others who come from manufacturing, information technology, telecommunication and transport/shipping.
While this finding is not conclusive due to limited number of sampling, it is worth a look. And it is not a healthy look at all as far as biotechnology salary is concerned.
Presently, the biotechnology development and growth is mostly driven by local companies and lack of funding may as well be one of the culprits. Malaysia’s postgraduate research program for the next 5 years is about $180 million. While the figure has been increased multiple times, it is incomparable to Singapore’s investment of $8 billion for its research in Biotechnology.
Multinational corporations and giant biotechnology players such as Merck, Pfizer, Novatis and a few others have representative in Malaysia but do not have major operation, production and research running here.
Other posts you may want to read:
- Career in Biotechnology: The Beginning
- The National Biotechnology Policy
- Pharmaceutical Industry Looking Good
- Malaysia Salary Guides Compared
- What is the Minimum Wage in Malaysia?
[...] will also help prospering the pharmaceutical industry, despite hiccups here and there e.g. low salary problem, lack of multinational biotechnology players in the country and so [...]
[...] One of Singapore’s strengths is its ability to attract science and technology professionals from outside of the country with attractive compensation and conducive research environment. In fact, many researchers from the neighboring countries, particularly Malaysia, have decided to migrate to Singapore for better salary and pay. [...]