Biotech job cuts mount; Producer prices rise; Restaurants boost summer hiring plans

Biotech job reductions continue to mount in 2025, with Genentech and Vertex Pharmaceuticals announcing cuts even as several global life science companies plan significant investments in new U.S. manufacturing plants.

State notification filings this week showed Genentech, a division of Swiss drugmaker Roche, plans to cut 143 workers at its facilities in South San Francisco, California. Also, Vertex Pharmaceuticals plans 125 cuts in Providence, Rhode Island.

In June alone, cuts have also been announced by firms such as Recursion Pharmaceuticals, Rapt Therapeutics and Plexium, resulting from factors such as industry consolidation and shifts in research and development priorities. The industry news site Fierce Biotech tracked more than 3,000 life science layoffs announced worldwide by over 100 companies so far in 2025.

Job reductions arrive even as Genentech and Roche last month announced plans to build their first Eastern U.S. drug manufacturing plant near Raleigh, North Carolina. Plans call for a $700 million investment that is expected to create 400 jobs in a 700,000-square-foot facility, according to a Genentech statement.

Brokerage JLL reported that global drugmakers have announced planned new U.S. manufacturing investments valued at more than $270 billion over the next five to 10 years, spurred in part by planned U.S. tariffs on imported drugs. Along with Roche, companies planning to boost domestic production with a total of at least 15 projects include Johnson & Johnson, Novartis and Eli Lilly. 

Costs that U.S. companies incur in producing goods and services rose by a lower-than-expected 2.6% on an annual basis in May, according to the Labor Department’s latest producer price index released Thursday. Also known as wholesale prices, producer prices can affect consumer prices, which rose at an annual rate of 2.4% in May, up from 2.3% in April.

Figures showed construction prices, including building materials, increased 0.2% from the prior month, though overall costs for goods and services in that industry rose 1.3% from a year earlier. There were slight monthly producer price declines in categories such as airfares, portfolio management services and hospital outpatient care.

May’s annual producer price figure was higher than April’s 2.5% but lower than March’s 3.3%. Analysts did not expect the latest data to prompt an immediate cut in interest rates from the Federal Reserve, as the agency monitors effects of trade tariffs on inflation and maintains a 2% inflation target before considering its next rate reduction.

“We’re sticking with our forecast for the next rate cut to occur in December, but the Fed needs to carefully monitor whether businesses opt to lay off workers to cut costs because they’re eating more of the tariffs than anticipated,” Oxford Economics Chief U.S. Economist Ryan Sweet said in a statement Thursday. 

Despite continued struggles with slowing sales and rising costs, U.S. restaurants are projected this year to add 490,000 seasonal jobs this summer. That would exceed the 459,000 full- and part-time positions added last summer, according to the National Restaurant Association.

“At the same time, restaurant operators remain uncertain about business conditions in the months ahead, which may curtail their willingness to expand payrolls in a challenging environment,” the trade group said in a statement. “As a result, summer hiring is expected to remain below 500,000 for the second consecutive year.”

The dining industry has dealt during the past year with a string of location closings, job cuts and bankruptcy filings by national chains and regional franchisees. Sales for the 500 largest U.S. chains by revenue grew 3.1% in 2024, the slowest annual growth pace in the past decade aside from pandemic-affected 2020, according to industry consulting firm Technomic.