The life sciences industry, and its real estate demand, had been particularly strong during the pandemic because it was in such high demand. Vaccines, treatments — the world wanted solutions.

Now, things have slowed, as CBRE noted in a new analysis. But demand for lab and R&D space is still stronger than in pre-pandemic times.

At the beginning of 2023, life sciences employment hit an historic high, though the rate of growth has been slowing. From June 2020 to June 2022, the average monthly job additions were 11,144. The average over the last six months has dropped to 3,378. Last year, life sciences became 1.4% of all employment in the country. Those are people who by and large are not working at home. There have been layoffs this year, but unemployment rates for biological scientists, biomedical engineers, and medical specialists are well below national averages, and all these people are probably not in specifically life sciences companies.