Pharma companies compete for scarce manufacturing talent as reshoring ramps up

As pharmaceutical firms expand or add U.S. manufacturing sites to bring production back home, they are finding it hard to staff the plants.

The industry faces a limited pool of qualified workers, with many positions from engineers to supervisors remaining unfilled, and it even competes with data center projects for the same talent.

Sheena Dempsey, chief executive of CAI, a consultancy that supplies manufacturing experts, said the overlap in hiring needs has created a war for talent that will intensify through 2027 and 2028.

She noted that the shortage is a major constraint on U.S. biologics manufacturing and that there are no easy fixes.