University of Applied Sciences of Weihenstephan, Science Centre Straubing, Schulgasse 18, D-94315 Straubing, Germany Tel: +49 (0)9421 187 200 Fax: +49 (0)9421 187 211 E-mail: Klaus.Menrad@fhweihenstephan.de

Revised 3 May 2005.

Abstract

This paper quantitatively analyses the employment effects of biotechnology in Germany. In 2000, a total of 614,000 employees were influenced by this technology of which biotechnology was highly relevant for maintaining the competitiveness of around 220,000 jobs. In this high-impact cluster the number of jobs increases to a range of 330,000 to 677,000 jobs in the year 2010 which equals a maximum of approximately 1.7 per cent of all employees in Germany. Additional spill-over effects of biotechnology will range between 657,000 and more than 1 million jobs in the year 2010, depending mainly on diffusion rates of biotechnology.