A new study shows the biotechnology industry employs 58,000 people in North Carolina, giving it the third-largest life sciences sector in the country.

The report was released Wednesday by Battelle, the N.C. Biotechnology Center and the N.C. Biosciences Organization.

The industry generates $59 billion in economic activity across the state, and grew by 23.5 percent between 2001 and 2010, according to the report.

Jobs in the sector paid an average salary of $78,000 a year, or nearly twice the amount of private sector workers statewide.

A new report by Jones Lang LaSalle also ranked the Raleigh-Durham area as the fourth largest life sciences cluster in the country.