According to Pharmalot, the Massachusetts-based search firm ZRG Partners has found that global hiring within its life science index rose 3.7 percent in the first quarter of 2012, and that pharma hiring — taken on its own — rose 5 percent during that period. "What boosted the pharma sector was a 25 percent jump in hiring in Europe," Pharmalot says. "By comparison, hiring in North America was flat and the Asia Pacific region revealed a drop."