I work at a large biotech company with a fairly stable future. However, Merck has left town, Pfizer has been laying off the last 3 quarters (about 200-300 per round), Neurocrine’s drug won’t be approved as Pfizer has just let them go and small biotechs don’t last for more than 3 years. It is a very volatile industry and sometimes hard to keep a good job. I’m at the mid management level with some graduate education, but the higher you get in education the tougher it is to find good stable positions. I know of several people who have been affected by recent layoffs and have been unemployed for several months. However, lab bench workers are able to find positions immediately. Not really sure about the effect on housing as of yet. The lower paid workers (non-PhD) are usually renters and in their mid to late 20’s while the higher educated/ salaried ones own homes, yet are older so they probably bought before the boom and may be unaffected by losing their job (or can take the time to find something comparable). That’s my view.